UNB, Dhaka :The voter list updating process began across the country on Saturday with data collection of possible voters in189 upazilas and thanas in the first phase.Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad inaugurated the three-phase data collection programme at 11 am at Shilpakala Academy in Narsingdi town.Enumerators will collect data of Bangladeshi citizens born on or before January 1, 2000 throughout the country till September 22 this year.Of them, only those who were born on or before January 1, 1998 will be registered as voters in 2016, while the remaining nationals in 2017 and 2018.Besides, data of dead voters will be collected in order to erase their names from the electoral rolls. Inaugurating the data collection, the CEC urged people to cooperate with enumerators providing authentic information during the door-to-door data collection in total 514 upazlias and thanas covering the entire country.”If you cooperate with us by providing authentic information, we’ll be able to prepare an errorless database,” he said.Rakibuddin said the commission will start distributing smart national identity (NID) cards with 46 information among some 10 crore voters of the country soon. “It’ll not be possible to duplicate NID cards, if the smart cards are provided.”State Minister for Water Resources Muhammad Nazrul Islam MP, election commissioners Mohammad Abdul Mobarak and Shah Nawaz, EC additional secretary Mokhlesur Rahman, Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman and Director General of the EC’s NID Registration Wing Brig Gen Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin, among others, were present in the function presided over by EC secretary Sirazul Islam.The data will be collected in 189 upazilas/thanas from July 25 to August 9 in the first phase, while 184 upazilas/thanas from August 16 to 30 in the second phase and 141 upazilas/thanas from September 7 to 22 in the third phase.The schedule of data collection of possible voters is available on the EC’s website www.ecs.gov.bd With 2.5 percent growth in the country’s existing 9.62 crore voters, the commission estimates that some 24 lakh fresh voters will emerge in 2016, and 48 lakh more in 2017 and 2018 following the data collection.If any possible voter wants to get registered, s/he needs to have birth certificate, land deed (if any), education certificate (if any), receipt of house rent or copies of utility bills, passport (if any), NID number of father or mother or spouse.The eligible people have also scope to provide their respective data through online registration this year.Some 61,000 manpower, including 50,000 enumerators and 10,000 supervisors, are needed for the three-phase data collection work under 5,400 voter registration centres in 4650 union parishads, 320 municipalities, 12 cantonment boards and 439 wards of 11 city corporations across the country.Photographs and fingerprints of the nationals born on or before January 1, 1998 will be taken in three phases from August 11 to October 20 through the voter registration centres.But the photographs and fingerprints of the remaining citizens will be taken in also three phases from October 22 to February 10 next. The EC will make the draft updated voter list public on January 2 next to receive complaints regarding the update. After disposing of complaints, the commission will publish final updated voter list on January 31 next.According to section 11 of the Voter List Act 2009, the Election Commission shall update the countrywide electoral rolls during January 2-31 every year. The voter list was last updated in 2014.
