Govt appoints 64 district SPs thru lottery ahead of national election

Bangladesh government has appointed Superintendents of Police (SPs) for all 64 districts through a lottery system, the government confirmed Wednesday, marking an unprecedented reshuffling ahead of the national election scheduled for early February.

A gazette notification signed by Md Mahbubur Rahman, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, announced the new postings.

Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury told reporters earlier in the day that districts were categorized into three groups based on law-and-order considerations before the lottery was conducted.

“Yes, the news is correct. The lottery was conducted exactly as planned,” he said after attending a review meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Annual Development Programme at the Secretariat. “We established three categories—A, B, and C—not based on district size but on the law-and-order situation.”

He said that once districts were categorized, officers were assigned accordingly. “Out of a total of 64 SPs, 18 were reassigned, while others remained unchanged. The lottery then decided which officer would go to which district, based on luck.”

Chowdhury stressed that no qualified or meritorious officers were overlooked in the process. When asked whether the same system would be applied to selecting officers-in-charge (OCs), he responded, “Insha’Allah,” adding that the priority remained placing the most capable officers in key positions.