EC divided on gathering info of under-18 citizens

The Election Commission (EC) appears to be divided on the issue of collecting information of under-18 citizens at a time when it failed to provide national identification (NID) cards even after six months to five million people enlisted in the voter list, reports bdnews24.com.

Officials said the commission's plan to provide some 92.5 million people with 'smart cards' and update voters' roll after six months were massive tasks.

To embark on a new initiative without completing the earlier two tasks would create problems, the officials said.  

Election Commissioners Abdul Mobarak, Abu Hafiz and Zabed Ali opposed the idea of abruptly taking up a new task.

They observed that the whole exercise of collecting information of those under 18 years of age at this juncture would lead to 'wastage' of a lot of money.