Work on voter list starts in July

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A mammoth nationwide task of preparing digitialised voter list plus national ID card starts off in mid-July from Rajshahi, the Election Commission announced Wednesday, reports UNB.
The EC would begin making the electoral roll with photograph plus National Identity (NID) Card with its limited equipment provided by different organisations as assistance to accomplish the basic preparation for national elections.
But the work would start on a full scale across the country after getting all the equipment in August, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dr ATM Shamsul Huda told journalists.
"The ongoing task of the pilot project on voter list in Sripur will be complete on June 30… Another seven days will be required to evaluate the result of Sripur project… Thereafter, we will go with the task to the municipal areas of Rajshahi," he said.
There wouldn't be any pilot project in Rajshahi. The EC doesn't want to go for any more pilot project as it is focusing on the 18-month timeframe to complete the task of voter- listing and holding elections, the CEC said.
The EC has got about 900 pieces of equipment in its hand by courtesy of different organisations like Grameen Phone and UNDP. "The Election Commission wants to utilise the time of June and July as its time schedule is very tight… It wants to start the task of voter list in a scattered way with the limited equipment before August," said Dr Huda.
He noted that it would be better to complete the task of Rajshahi municipalities as the city corporation election has already been "overdue" there.
After Rajshahi they would go to the municipalities in Khulna. "The task will start on full scale across the country after getting all the necessary equipment in August."
The CEC said that actually the task of voter list has already been started with the inauguration of the pilot project in Sripur. The EC would adopt the voter list of Sripur project by enacting laws if it proved correct, and if there be any small flaws in that list that would also be corrected later on.
If around 44,000 eligible voters in Sripur municipal area have registered their names in the voter list, then there is no reason to waste the huge amount of money being spent on the pilot project, he told the reporters at his office.
Asked about different foreign delegations' opinion for holding the stalled elections as soon as possible, CEC Huda said the delegations that called on the EC at different times aren't telling that their 18-month timeline is a long period.