DHAKA, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Election Commission (EC) of Bangladesh has decided to deploy army personnel across the country from Dec. 24 for the national elections slated for Dec. 30.

"Army personnel will be deployed as a striking force from Dec. 24 and they will remain in the field until Jan. 2," EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told journalists Thursday after a commission meeting with senior officers of law-enforcement agencies in Dhaka.

The commission postponed the polling date for the country's national election to Dec. 30 from Dec. 23 after the major opposition alliance led by ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) urged the commission to defer the election date by a month.

The ruling Bangladesh Awami League party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which rose to power with a landslide election victory in early 2009 and won its second term in 2014, is facing challenges from Zia's BNP and its allies, which boycotted the 2014 elections.

As many as 1,841 candidates are contesting in the country's upcoming general election for 300 constituencies.

According to the commission, out of total contesting candidates in the 11th national elections slated for Dec. 30, 1,745 are party candidates while 96 are independent candidates. Enditem

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