M M Jasim :
The updating of electoral rolls by the Election Commission (EC) is hindered because the boys and the girls under-16 are reluctant to furnish their personal information. It has worried the EC officials.
They said that the females in rural areas as well as in urban areas to disclose their personal information. The males even do not respond to the field-level officials.
“The females in the rural as well as in the urban areas do not want to disclose their age. The field-level officers are getting poor response,” said the National Identification Registration Wing Chief Brigadier General Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin on Saturday.
“Reluctance to share details about age and location of residences are the reasons of disinterest,” Saleh Uddin said.
The EC officials said, those who are 17-year old will become eligible to vote after January 2016 appear to have responded well to the updating.
“The scenario is not good. It will be very difficult to fulfill our tasks if the females and males are disinterested,” Dhaka’s Regional Election Officer Mihir Sarowar Morshed said.
Meanwhile, the fact that a National ID card will be not available immediately after getting registered has also contributed to the poor response, said Senior District Election Officer Md Shah Alam.
Updating information of citizens aged between 15 and 17 for the EC’s database for 2015-2016 is expected to end this week.
The move to gather information of under-18 citizens group started despite the fact that the Election Commission was divided on the issue.
The EC aimed at registering 7.2 million populations in the 15-17 age group in three years.
According to field-level officials, the number of people, eligible to vote after January 2016 will be over 2.5 million.
But it does not seem that many voters’ eligibility will end in 2017 and 2018. EC officials say it will be far less than the estimated figure for 2016.
The EC’s target is to update citizens, who would be able to vote in 2017 and 2018. Their murder will be 4.8 million.
“There is still more time. And the information on this will be revealed once the updating is complete,” said Election Commissioner Abu Hafiz.
