The government has issued a gazette notification appointing Superintendents of Police (SPs) for all 64 districts through a lottery system, formalising the reshuffle ahead of the national election scheduled for the first half of February next year.

The notification, signed by Md Mahbubur Rahman, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, was published on Wednesday.

According to officials, the lottery — held Monday at the residence of the Chief Adviser’s Office in Jamuna — followed a screening process that excluded officers who had previously served as district SPs. From officers in the 25th, 27th and 28th police cadre batches, a vetted “fit list” of 64 eligible candidates was prepared, and their final district postings were then determined by draw.

Earlier in the day, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said the SP appointments were made after grouping all districts into three categories based on law-and-order sensitivity.

Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat, he said no meritorious officers had been left out in the process.

“Yes, the news is correct. The lottery was conducted exactly as planned. We created categories A, B and C — not by size, but by the law-and-order situation,” he told reporters.

After categorising the districts, officers from the screened list were placed accordingly, he added.

“Of the 64 SPs, 18 were reassigned while the rest remained unchanged. The lottery then decided who would go to which district — purely by luck,” the adviser said.

Asked whether the same system would be applied to officer-in-charge postings, he replied, “Insha’Allah,” noting that the priority was to place the most capable officers in key positions.