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Voter List

Remaining 75pc work to be done in next 6 months

Staff Correspondent
The Election Commission (EC) has completed 25 percent of the field level task of preparing voter list with photographs in the last five months while it plans to complete the job in the next five to six months.
Till Saturday, 2.23 crore voters were enrolled with photographs, and registering around six crore more voters will be completed by June, sources in the EC Secretariat said.
The field level task that began in August last year gained momentum in December with around 50 percent of the voters enrolled so far listed last month.
In August, the EC registered 6.58 lakh voters, in September 12.59 lakh, in October 18.30 lakh, in November 66.41 lakh and in December 1.02 crore, says a report on month-wise voter registration progress.
The report says that on an average, four lakh voters are being listed every day in 85 areas where the process is going on. Around 10,000 laptops and the same number of other accessories are being used for this. Over one crore voters are supposed to be registered each month.
Satisfied with the progress of the field level task, the EC hopes that if everything goes smoothly, it will be completed even before June since the number of voters will be more
or less eight crore.
Talking to reporters yesterday, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain said the EC is determined to finalise the voter list within October as per its roadmap.
In Dhaka City Corporation areas, 20 lakh voters were registered with photographs so far, and the number might total more than 40 lakh, he said.
The EC is yet to decide whether it would now publish draft voter list of the areas where the field level tasks have been completed, or publish the draft lists at a time.
It however plans to publish the draft vo ter list of four city corporation
Voter list
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areas at the end of January or early in February to finalise it by March for holding the long due polls to the corporations in April-May, sources said.
Draft voter lists of these city corporations--Rajshahi, Khulna, । Barisal and Sylhet- have already been completed.
After completion of field level task, the EC will require at least one month to complete the other formalities including publication of draft voter list seeking people's objections and claims in this regard. If this task ends in May or early in June, the EC will have a final electoral roll by July or early August, sources pointed out.
At a meeting yesterday, the EC discussed the issues, and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda is likely to disclose the EC's plans for city corporations polls and other polls-related matters at a press briefing today.
Reconstituted on February 4, the present EC headed by Shamsul Huda announced on April 5 the much-talked-about 18-month timeframe for preparing the voter list with photographs and complete all other preparations for holding the stalled ninth parliamentary polls.
Later on July 16, the CEC announced a comprehensive plan for holding the polls stipulating that it will hold the polls by December and prepare the voter list by October 2008.
The report on voter registration process says voter listing in 72
upazilas, municipalities and city corporations has already been done with 1.24 crore people on the electoral rolls with their photographs and fingerprints.
Currentiy, the task is going on in 85 places, and till January 5 a total of 99.01 lakh voters were already registered.
Besides, 37.37 lakh national identity cards have been prepared, and 22.86 lakh of those distributed amongrhe voters.
INDEPENDENCE OF EC SECRETARIAT
Law Adviser Mainul Hosein yesterday said the government has finalised the draft law to free the EC Secretariat from the control of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), now the office of the chief adviser.
Talking to reporters at his residence after supplying the particulars to an EC official for voter listing, Mainul said the government will soon promulgate an ordinance providing for independence of the EC Secretariat.
About holding parliamentary polls and upazila elections together, the adviser said the EC will have to take decision on it.
Asked about this, Sakhawat said if the EC gets proposals from the government, it will examine the possibility of holding the polls to parliament and upazilas together.
The law adviser however said the caretaker government wants holding of polls to city corporations separately. "Polls to the city corporations are required to establish relations between the government and the people," he added.