Bangladesh News

The Election Commission (EC) may give a few more days’ time for correcting the updated voter roll if needed.
“The time for correcting the voter list might be extended if necessary,” EC Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarker said yesterday. He was talking to the reporters after a meeting with a three-member Awami League (AL) delegation at his office.

Led by MA Mannan, the AL team talked about the follow-ups of their demands and suggestions placed to the EC secretary on December 10 regarding amendments to the updated voter list, when they also handed over a letter of the AL general secretary to him.

They also made some more suggestions yesterday, along with complaints and demanded extension of time for carrying out the corrections in the voter roll.

The AL team, however, hailed the activities of the EC so far in this regard.

“We got complaints about severe shortage of inclusion forms in different areas,” MA Mannan said alleging that there are plenty of voter forms at the EC storehouses, but not in the hands of these officials. The delegation also alleged that as there is no clear direction about inclusion of the eligible voters in the EC’s circular, the field level officials are leaving out many of them.

“The EC secretary has admitted these problems and assured us of taking proper steps in this regard,” Mannan said adding that the secretary also assured them of extending time for one or two more days for the ongoing process of correcting the voter list. They also suggested the EC secretary to list the voters who have been left out, including the newly eligible ones and to delete the duplicate names, he added.

About the allegation of not including the prospective voters, the EC secretary said, they (EC) have given necessary directions for both exclusion and inclusion. “We are putting more emphasis on deleting duplicate names, as the NDI and different quarters raised this issue,” he added.