Farhad Ahmed Khan, senior assistant secretary of the EC Secretariat, sent the letters Tuesday afternoon.

The EC decided to send the letters Monday after receiving a petition from Mannan requesting security provisions. The BDB candidate said he could not conduct election campaign due to lack of security.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday Mannan said, "He [BNP candidate Mosaddek Hossain Falu] is getting police protection and so has not encountered any security problem to date." A five-member police team is engaged round the clock for the BNP candidate's protection, he added.

The EC Secretariat sent another letter to the Armed Forces Division conveying the EC's decision for army deployment at every polling station of the Dhaka-10 constituency during the July-1 polls, Farhad said.

The EC Secretariat's letter followed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) MA Syed's letter to the prime minister Tuesday noon requesting the same.

As explanation of sending the two separate letters, Farhad said, "We [EC Secretariat] did not know that the CEC had sent a letter to the prime minister for army deployment. We have followed the normal procedure and sent the letter to the Armed Forces Division."

Meanwhile, following the High Court's direction, the returning officer of Dhaka-10 by-election on Tuesday allocated 'Kula' as Mannan's election symbol. Independent candidate Mahbub Hossain Bhuiyan, who earlier received the disputed symbol, is now competing with 'Basket' instead.