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Download PDF The time limit for keeping the updated voter list open for public inspection at local government and election offices expires today with many areas in the country yet to see the list displayed at these offices.
Even the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat does not have information whether the updated list is being displayed properly while the EC has no plan to extend the time limit, sources said.
“We are not collecting information from the field level on keeping the updated voter list open for public inspection. We are getting the information only from media reports,” a top EC official told The Daily Star yesterday.
The EC had earlier declined to publish the draft voter list but later decided to keep the updated voter list on display for the public for three days from August 28.
But many field level election officials have failed to do so as they could not complete the task in time.
“We could not keep the updated voter list on display as the task was not completed,” an election official in Khagrachhari district said when contacted yesterday.
Field level election officials of Narail district said they sent the updated list yesterday for display at the offices of local government bodies.
In some districts, election officials however are keeping the updated list on display as scheduled. “But people are not interested in checking the list,” said one official.
In the capital, the situation is worse as the election offices yesterday continued compiling the information collected. They hoped to keep the updated voter list on display from today.
Field level task of updating the list was completed on August 10 through door-to-door visits without checking authenticity of the applications received by the field level staffs.
In the absence of a procedure for examining authenticity of information given in the applications, duplication of names in the updated list is very likely, many district election officers apprehend.
In many areas, there are allegations of allowing under-aged people to apply for being listed as voters. But the EC Secretariat has not initiated steps to probe the allegations.
On expiry of the time limit for public display of the updated voter list, the EC Secretariat is to start the process of printing it.
October 11th, 2008 at 10:55 am
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