Voter list update: EC to probe low women registration

The Election Commission (EC) will investigate to find out reasons behind the significantly less number of women registering their names as voters compared to males during the ongoing countrywide voter list update that began in May last, report agencies.

The commission, at its meeting on Sunday, asked the EC secretariat to form some inquiry committees to find out the reasons of less registration by female voters, Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz told a group of reporters at his EC Secretariat office.

The committees will conduct surveys in some specific areas where the trend among the women to become voters is significantly low, he said.

After its vigilance in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar, the Election Commission (EC) has now warned its voter registration workers that Rohingya refugees may attempt to become registered voters in the Dhaka city.

The EC has been updating the voter rolls in Dhaka and Chittagong cities as well as in 120 Upazilas starting from today (Monday). This will continue until mid-November.

Driven out of Myanmar due to communal violence, the Rohingya Muslim refugees took shelter in Bangladesh about 24 years ago. Since then many have become voters in the country.

This came to public notice after some Rohingyas carrying Bangladeshi passports were arrested abroad for various crimes.

By some accounts there are about 500,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh besides the 25,000 living in two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar.

At a recent meeting of the central committee on voter rolls updating, the Chittagong divisional commissioner said Rohingyas were moving to other parts of the country to become voters since the EC was alert in his region.