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Download PDF Despite allegations of leaving out many eligible ones, the number of voters on the updated electoral roll stood at a staggering 9.30 crore as it registered 17 lakh more voters than the nullified draft of the fresh voter list.
The updated voter list presented by the Election Commission (EC) yesterday shows at least 1.28 crore unaccounted for voters if one goes by the 2001 census report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) that shows 8.02 crore eligible people to be registered as voters.
Secretary to the EC Secretariat Abdur Rashid Sarkar yesterday admitted that the updated voter list is not completely free of flaws. “But I am in doubts whether it is possible to initiate further measures to check the authenticity of the number of voters,” he told reporters at his office.
The number of voters in the updated voter list has now reached 9,30,82,499. The existing electoral roll had 7.64 crore voters after inclusion of the names of new voters for different local government bodies’ elections in the last five years.
If the total population of the country is considered to be 14 crore, 66.42 per cent of it have been registered as voters in the updated list while the draft of the fresh voter list registered over 65 per cent people as voters.
The invalidated draft of the fresh voter list published on May 3 registered 9.13 crore voters, triggering enormous controversy over the unusual rise in the number of voters compared to 7.48 crore voters on the list prepared in 2000.
“It is difficult to evaluate why the number of voters has increased so much. I personally believe, people were not interested in deleting names as much as in registering,” the EC secretary said.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) MA Aziz claimed on Monday that the EC has done its “best” in updating the voter list.
Sarkar, however, said yesterday, “It is my honest confession–the task for updating the voter list was not done the way it should have been…I have doubts over the process of deleting names from the existing voter list.”
The documents disclosed by the EC Secretariat shows that 2,11,63,408 persons have registered their names as voters during updating while the EC officials across the country deleted only 45,08,680 names from the list.
The EC started updating the existing voter list from July 21 without any procedure to examine the authenticity of the applications received by its field officials during door-to-door visits.
The field level task for updating the voter list was completed on September 10 allegedly keeping many eligible people across the country out of the list. Allegations were also raised for registering under-age people and Rohingya refugees.
The updated voter list witnessed a huge rise in fresh listing of names in some EC administrative regions.
The percentage of registered names in Dhaka region is 37.19, in Chittagong region 30.44, and in Comilla region 30.73.
The six other regions–Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Mymensingh and Sylhet–witnessed 24-25 per cent rise in the number of freshly registered voters.
In Dhaka region, 11.55 per cent names were deleted while in other regions the percentage is between 3 and 5.
In the capital, the percentage of rise in the number of voters is even more astounding. The percentage of fresh registration in Cantonment area is 77.83, in Motijheel 74.26, Pallabi 73.96, Dhanmondi 72.66, Mirpur 71.92, and Uttara 68.96. The Kotwali area, however, witnessed only 28.52 per cent rise while other areas witnessed 45-61 per cent rise.
The average percentage of deletion in the capital is 33.62.
Dhaka had about 29 lakh voters in the existing voter list. The abolished draft voter list witnessed 37 lakh voters while the updated list now has 45.35 lakh voters in the capital.
The EC secretary said they will take actions if they find any error in the updated voter list.
However, the EC has no plan to examine the unusual rise in the number of voters in the updated voter list, sources at the EC Secretariat said.
THE BBS REPORT
The BBS report shows the number of people aged 18 years and above–the age for a person to be eligible for voting–should be maximum 8.02 crore if no deaths occur during the last five years and every eligible person is listed.
The calculation is based on the 2001 BBS census report completed soon after the previous voter list was prepared ahead of the last parliamentary elections.
The report showed the number of people in the age bracket of 13 years and above at 8.02 crore. Those who were 13 years in 2001 have reached the voting age in 2006, five years down the line.
So, there is no way that the number of voters in 2006 could go above this figure. In fact, it should be less than 8.02 crore as at least 10 lakh people in the age group died in the last five years.
Moreover, if the standard calculation–that at least 5 per cent voters do not get listed for various reasons–is factored in, then another 40 lakh would be reduced, meaning, the actual number of voters should be around 7.5 crore.
The voter list prepared in 2000 also triggered controversy over the number of voters. The European Union (EU) in a letter to the then CEC MA Syed noted that the voter list included a staggering 1.3 crore “ghost” voters.
In September 2003, the EU said the number of 7.48 crore voters is too high in a population of 13 crore. It argued that 55 per cent of Bangladeshis are aged over 15 years. So, even if the eligibility age is reduced to 15 years, the maximum number of voters cannot be more than 7.15 crore.
CEC MA Aziz referred on several occasions to the EU letter defending his move for preparing a fresh voter list even by ignoring High Court directives for revising the existing voter list.
The EC prepared and published the draft of the fresh voter list on May 3, but the Supreme Court on May 23 declared it illegal as there is no provision in the electoral laws for preparing a fresh voter list.
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