ABOUT 1.1 crore voters, who were included in the voter list after 2012, have not yet got the laminated NID cards. Although the Election Commission had promised to provide NID cards to those voters by March, it failed to keep its word. In January, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury said around 50 lakh out of 1.1 crore cards had been printed so far and they will start the distribution in March.
According to newspaper reports, the number of voters during 2014 general election was over 9 crore 19 lakh. At that time, thousands of young voters were not provided laminated ID cards. At present, the number of total voters is more than 10 crore 20 lakh. Due to Election Commission’s dilly-dally attitude; the newly enrolled voters would not be able to cast their votes in the upcoming general election. Apart from it, they are also facing various troubles in getting different government facilities for not getting the NID cards.
We know inclusion of a person in the voter list and getting his NID is a continuous process. But it is hard to understand why these people will have to wait for years to get their documents. There is another big problem. The Bangladeshi nationals living abroad did not given NID cards though they face problems both at home and abroad in the absence of such documents. We think, the expatriate Bangladeshi nationals having machine readable passports (MRPs) should be provided with NID cards without further verification. The EC must consider the matter with due importance as the Bangladeshi expatriate nationals contribute immensely to the National Economy.
Newspaper reports said about 1.16 crore Bangladeshi nationals are currently living in 159 countries and many of them face different challenges pertaining to legal identity, illness, political harassment, accidents, etc where the NID cards can ease their problems. We do urge the authority concerned to take urgent measures to end the difficulties in getting NID cards, and the sooner the better.
