Election Commission worried over youths’ lack of interest

Updating of electoral rolls has failed to generate much interest among the under-18 citizens in Bangladesh, leaving the Election Commission (EC) worried and groping for answers, reports bdnews24.com.

The inertia appears most pronounced among those in the 15-16 age group.

Reluctance to share details of age or place of residence or failure to get registration certificate may explain this lack of interest, EC officials feel.

They say that though 17-year olds who become eligible to vote after Jan 2016 appear to have responded well to the updating, those in the 15-16 age group eligible to be voters in 2017-18 have been found lacking in interest.

"This worries us," says Dhaka's Regional Election Officer Mihir Sarowar Morshed.

The National Identification Registration Wing chief entertain similar feelings.

"A lot of females do not want to disclose their age; that's the case in the rural as well as urban areas. The field-level officers are getting poor response," Brig Gen Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin told the news agency.

He says the number of registered citizens in the 15-16 age group have been low.