The home ministry meanwhile instructed intelligence agencies to strengthen their surveillance on persons involved with 'ill-attempts' to resist the election, and asked other law enforcing agencies to take preemptive legal actions against those who might create trouble on the polling day set for January 22 amid a boycott by Awami League (AL)-led grand alliance and some other allied political parties, sources said.

According to the existing electoral laws, a member of any law enforcement agency including the army, navy and the air force shall have the power to arrest any person without a warrant for maintenance of peace, law and order in a polling station or within a radius of four hundred yards of a polling station on the polling day.

The power given to the armed forces, through a controversial ordinance in 2001, also allows the armed forces to take actions against any activity that goes against the electoral code of conduct.

Now the Armed Forces Division (AFD) desires an additional authority of exercising this power all over the constituencies which will have the polls on January 22, sources said.

The principal staff officer (PSO) of AFD at a law and order meeting with the Election Commission (EC) on December 27 expressed the desire, sources said.

But interestingly, the EC Secretariat in its minutes of the meeting did not include the speech of the PSO expressing the desire to have the additional power.

In a recent letter to the EC, AFD reminded the commission of the PSO's desire and asked to include it in the meeting's minutes, sources said.

Contacted by The Daily Star yesterday EC Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar confirmed the martial desire.

Meanwhile, AFD is scheduled to hold a meeting chaired by the PSO today to chalk out a plan for the deployment of troops for election duties. It already asked the EC Secretariat to send a joint secretary level official to attend the meeting, sources said.

According to a decision made earlier, the armed forces will be deployed from January 10 and it will be on election duty along with other law enforcement agencies for 20 days to maintain law and order before, during and after the parliamentary election.

A circular issued by the home ministry on January 3 said if necessary, the armed forces may be deployed for election duties a couple of days earlier than the schedule of deployment. The circular came out on the very day AL-led grand alliance announced boycott of the election and its intention to resist it.

The defence ministry already issued instructions regarding deployment of the armed forces in aid of the civil administration.

The EC secretary yesterday said the armed forces will do everything including recovering illegal arms and assisting other law enforcement agencies in maintaining law and order.

According to the election laws, the armed forces can themselves remove or issue orders to remove multi-coloured posters or portraits of candidates, campaign gates and arches, barricades, banners, microphones, loudspeakers, and decorative illuminations, and can paint over graffiti on walls.

The EC secretary yesterday morning held a meeting with the PSO of AFD and the inspector general of police to discuss the prevailing law and order situation. He had also held a meeting with the same two top officials of forces on last Friday.

Replying to a query the secretary said the meeting discussed the law and order situation as AL-led grand alliance started enforcing a three-day countrywide blockade from yesterday aimed at resisting the election.

The secretary however did not specify the number of troops to be deployed for election duties. In the last parliamentary election about 60,000 troops were deployed across the country.

The home ministry in its circular however said at least a company of armed forces will be posted at each district headquarters. Necessary number of troops will be deployed at each upazila headquarters considering the law and order situation there, sources said.

The armed forces had already been deployed on December 9 in a unilateral decision of President and Chief Adviser Iajuddin Ahmed, who are now in action on the streets confronting the grand alliance's ongoing countrywide blockade for electoral reforms.