Election commissioner EC) Brig. Gen. (retd.) Abul Fazal Md. Sanaullah said the election commission has identified 3 reasons that made the voter-list controversial.
For this, the Election Commission decided to update the list by going door-to-door to the voters, he said.
He shared this information to the reporters at a briefing held at the Election Building on Thursday.
It is being said in various talk shows that the voter list is not correct. When asked whether the draft voter list released Thursday is correct or not, EC Abul Fazal said, “We have seen the controversial voter list in various media outlets at various times. You have discussed it and there is such a perception among our common people. This is one of the main purposes of our door-to-door verification.”
He said, “After taking charge, this commission does not feel confident without a clean voter list. That is why we are going door-to-door to verify. It has appeared to us that when we call the voter list controversial, we are calling it lack of accuracy and this is mainly due to three reasons.”
He said, “The first reason is not to exclude late voters from the list. Second - the possibility of double voter registration and third - whether foreign citizens have been included in the list through fraud or not. Recently, we have received several such incidents.”
The Election Commissioner said, “There is a huge system in the Chittagong area to prevent Rohingyas from becoming voters and that area is declared a special area and voters are registered separately there. To escape this strictness, 30 Rohingyas went to Nilphamari Sadar to become voters. We have evidence of this. In this way, our voter list has been disputed.”
“Our data collectors go door to door to collect data and there a local person helps us. It is seen that they increase the age of their own voters and include them in the voter list. Again it is seen that even if someone else is 18 to 19 years old, they are not allowed to register as a voter,” he said.
He further said, “There are many other reasons besides it. But these are the main ones. We are sensitizing in that way this time. We have already talked to our officials. Our Chief Election Commissioner has already visited two departments. Our commissioners will also go out to inspect. Our DG NID and the relevant officials in our secretariat are also going to the field level. In addition, the commission has arranged training. Hopefully we can reach a point of satisfaction on the voter list issue.”
When asked whether the Electoral Reform Commission's door-to-door voter list update program - before submitting the reform report - would overlap with the reform commission's proposal, he said, "We don't think so because no matter what reform proposal the reform commission makes, a voter list is needed. Without a voter list, there will be no voting. We don't think we will face any problem related to the voter list."
In response to a question about how long the door-to-door voter registration process will continue from January 20, he said, "If we can work well, we can complete it by June 30."
In response to a question about whether the parliamentary elections are held at the end of December, will those you are doing door-to-door voter registration be able to vote or not, and whether you will take any decision about amending the law, EC Abul Fazal said, "Our chief advisor has talked about the elections. He expects the elections to be held between December 2025 and June 2026. We have to prepare for the elections. We are always ready."
When asked what the commission is thinking about raising the minimum age of voters to 17, the Election Commissioner said, "Our chief advisor has given his personal opinion on voters at the age of 17. We have heard it and discussions are underway regarding it. If there is any political consensus in the future, if any decision is made, if there is a change in the constitution, we will take action accordingly."
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
