15-yr olds to get NIDs from this year

The election commission will start the electoral roll update programme 2015-2016 from July 25, in three phases, across the country. At a press briefing on Thursday the EC secretary Sirajul Islam said ‘this year, data of all citizens aged from 15-17 years will also be collected to provide them with national identity (NID) cards as per the recent decision of the Election Commission.’ He said that Bangladeshi citizens who were born on or before January 1, 1998 would be eligible to be registered as voters, while the Bangladeshi nationals who were born on or before January 1, 2000 would be eligible for NID cards for the first time. The young Bangladeshi nationals whose data is collected for NID cards would become registered voters soon after their age crosses 18, said the EC secretary. EC hosted the press briefing at the EC secretariat. The secretary said that the first phase of voter list update would start from July 25 and continue till August 9, and registration would be between August 11and September 1. He said that the second phase would be between August 16 and August 30 and registration between September 3 and September 22. The third phase would start from September 7 and end on September 22, and registration would be from September 30 to October 20. As of April 2015, there are 9, 62, 26, 542 voters in the country, said the secretary. A total of 50, 000 enumerators will travel door-to-door to collect information and 10, 000 supervisors will oversee the enumerators’ work. The electoral roll update will take place at 4,650 unions, 320 municipalities, 12 cantonment boards and 11 city corporations. In reply to a question, the EC secretary said people from enclaves will be able to register as voter after the treaties are implemented. ‘As it is still an unresolved issue, the EC did not take any decision regarding enclaves as yet,’ he said. The secretary urged the enumerators to work more carefully so that female voters get registered properly. In the previous year, in some areas, the number of female voters to men was widely disproportionate to the national ratio. The EC will make the draft updated voter list public on January 2, 2016 to receive complaints regarding the update, if any. After disposing of the complaints, the commission will publish the final updated voter list on January 31, 2016. EC joint secretary Jesmine Tuli, NID wing director Brigadier general Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin and director (public relations) SM Asaduzzaman were also present at the briefing. News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net