EC may start voter-listing from Rajshahi Aug 5
Thursday, 26 July 2007
The Election Commission (EC) is likely to kick-start the national task of voter list from Rajshahi on August 5 with a fund of Tk 15 million (1.5 crore) allocated for listing the voters in the city area, reports UNB.
"A total of 230 units with 145 enumerators will work there for about one month under direct army supervision", one source of the EC said.
Meanwhile, Election Commi-ssioner M Sohul Hussain Wednesday said there would be no more pilot project for preparatory work on voter list, after the Sreepur experiments.
"We will start the task in Rajshahi just after finalising the law (formulating rules and regulations)", he told journalists Wednesday afternoon.
The EC sent in a team of election officials to Rajshahi Tuesday so flaws detected in Sreepur voter list do not take place anymore. The team comprises election officials having Sreepur experiences also.
This time, there will be a database and server to maintain particulars of the voters. "The names of persons who will be 18 on January 1 every year will be included in the database", the commissioner said.
The database will have three options -- addition, deletion and transfer. The option of transfer may not be available this time, Sohul said.
He mentioned that earlier such voter-list updating had been done every five years, which used to require more time and spending. The system also created huge work pressure.
"The volume of work will be reduced if the task (inclusion of voters' names in list) is done annually."
In the meantime, Sohul and other Election Commissioner Sakhawat Hossain Wednesday met Adviser for Foreign Affairs Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at his ministry in the city, discussing with him the issue of including Bangladesh expatriates in the country's electoral roll.
They exchanged views with the adviser on various possible implications, legal and political aspects of registering the expatriate Bangladeshis as voter, Sohul said.
"We are now looking into the legal shortcomings… How the matter (of registering the expatriates in voter list) can be materialised… The foreign adviser also agrees with us (EC) that the matter should be done", he said.
However, the Election Commissioner declined to say anything about the legal complexity in putting expatriates on the voter list.
"A total of 230 units with 145 enumerators will work there for about one month under direct army supervision", one source of the EC said.
Meanwhile, Election Commi-ssioner M Sohul Hussain Wednesday said there would be no more pilot project for preparatory work on voter list, after the Sreepur experiments.
"We will start the task in Rajshahi just after finalising the law (formulating rules and regulations)", he told journalists Wednesday afternoon.
The EC sent in a team of election officials to Rajshahi Tuesday so flaws detected in Sreepur voter list do not take place anymore. The team comprises election officials having Sreepur experiences also.
This time, there will be a database and server to maintain particulars of the voters. "The names of persons who will be 18 on January 1 every year will be included in the database", the commissioner said.
The database will have three options -- addition, deletion and transfer. The option of transfer may not be available this time, Sohul said.
He mentioned that earlier such voter-list updating had been done every five years, which used to require more time and spending. The system also created huge work pressure.
"The volume of work will be reduced if the task (inclusion of voters' names in list) is done annually."
In the meantime, Sohul and other Election Commissioner Sakhawat Hossain Wednesday met Adviser for Foreign Affairs Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at his ministry in the city, discussing with him the issue of including Bangladesh expatriates in the country's electoral roll.
They exchanged views with the adviser on various possible implications, legal and political aspects of registering the expatriate Bangladeshis as voter, Sohul said.
"We are now looking into the legal shortcomings… How the matter (of registering the expatriates in voter list) can be materialised… The foreign adviser also agrees with us (EC) that the matter should be done", he said.
However, the Election Commissioner declined to say anything about the legal complexity in putting expatriates on the voter list.