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Voter list update starts amid poor publicity

Pankaj Karmakar and Zahangir Shah
The Election Commission yesterday started the voter list update amid poor publicity, which left people unaware about the initiative.
People of different upazilas still do not know when the programme will start and how the list will be updated.
Besides, data collectors and supervisors could not start work in many areas due to the unavailability of registration forms and other materials. The programme was supposed to start at 182 upazilas yesterday in the first phase.
While inaugurating the programme at Shibrampur village in Shibaloy upazila of Manikganj, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said success of the programme depended on the participation of people.
But most people in this village remain in the dark about the programme. After the inauguration, The Daily Star talked to over 50 people of Shibrampur and adjacent villages. Of them, around 35 said they knew nothing about the voter list update. They only knew that an event would be held at the Shibaloy upazila complex and some government and election officials would be there.
"When 1 was going to market early in the morning today,
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I saw a stage and arches were made on the upazila complex premises. When I asked some people, they told me that some toplevel government official would come for holding a meeting on the voter list," said Ripon Das, a youth of Namabari village.
No awareness campaign was conducted in this village, said Afzal Miah, a teashop owner of Shibrampur village.
Furthermore, how the voter list will be updated is not clear to the people.
The electoral roll update programme will continue till November 15 in three phases. Data collectors and supervisors will go from door to door for data collection and then people will have to come to the registration centre for taking photos.
Our Bramhanbaria correspondent reported that not only common people, but also the district's sadar upazila chair-
man and some candidates of Akhaura upazila did not know about the programme. As no registration forms and materials reached Bramhanbaria, the data collectors and supervisors could not start their job yet.
Many voters in Kapasia upazila of Gazipur, Rajoir and Shibchar upazila of Madaripur do not know about the voter list update programme, our correspondents reported from there.
Talking to The Daily Star, Additional Secretary of EC Secretariat Moklesur Rahman said they had taken all publicity measures, including putting advertisements in national dailies, sending messages in mobile phones, distributing leaflets. "As today was the first day, many may not know about it instantly. They will surely know within two or three days."