Staff Correspondent

Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar yesterday expressed grave concern over the present voting system and underscored the need for reformation of the electoral process.

“Public indifference to voting is now being noticed. It is an ominous sign for democracy,” Mahbub Talukdar said while addressing a programme in Dhaka on the occasion of National Voters’ Day.

The lack of trust in the voting system will have to be addressed at any cost, the commissioner said.

While addressing the same programme, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said the number of voters in the country at present is around 100 million.

Of them, 5,54,82,530 are male while 5,43,36,222 are female voters, he said.

Some 360 transgender people were added to the voter list for the first time, he added.

According to an EC official, 55,79,030 new voters were added to the updated voter list.

At the programme, Law Minister Anisul Huq in his speech as chief guest, urged all to research how to use state-of-the-art technologies like Electronic Voting Machine in the election process.

“Invent such a technology so that people can cast their vote online from their home,” he said.