Staff Reporter :
Newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Wednesday said “The right to vote and a congenial voting environment will be restored.
He expressed his optimism that the next general election will be held in a free and fair manner in line with the promise of Mujib Year,” Awal said while participating in a rally held in Dhaka on the occasion of National Voters’ Day.
After inaugurating the rally by releasing doves, CEC Awal said: “Voters will be able to exercise their franchise in a peaceful environment in the forthcoming general election.”
This year’s National Voters’ Day theme, “Mujib Borsher Ongikar, Rokkha Korbo Votadhikar”, (Mujib Year’s pledge is to protect the right to vote) will also be executed, he added.
CEC said the promise to restore voters’ right is not an ’empty promise’. It should be ploughed in heart. Whether it brings success or not we shall try.
This is the fourth National Voters’ Day observed by the Election Commission.
The rally was brought out from the capital’s Manik Mia Avenue at 8am and ended at Bangabandhu International Convention Center at 9am.
Election Commissioners Brigadier General Ahasan Habib Khan, Rasheda Sultana, Anisur Rahman and Md Alamgir were also in the rally.
According to the Election Commission’s final updated electoral roll, the number of voters in Bangladesh has now increased to 11.17 crore following the inclusion of some 19 lakh fresh voters last year.
The EC disclosed the updated voter numbers on Wednesday on the occasion of National Voter Day 2021.
According to the EC’s factsheet, a total of 19,18,056 new voters — 11,25,755 males and 7,92,220 females were enlisted in the country’s voter list since March 2, 2020.
However, 16,499 deceased voters have been dropped from the electoral roll.
Four hundred and forty-one transgender voters were incorporated under the identity of the third gender in the updated roll.
Now the number of total voters stands at 11,17,20,669 — 5,65,98,005 males (50.66%), 5,51,22,223 females (49.33%) and 441 transgender.
The voter growth was 1.75 per cent last year.
Among the total voters, the share of women has slightly declined to 49.33 per cent now from 49.48 per cent.
