Army offers to prepare voter ID

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The Bangladesh Army yesterday proposed to the caretaker government to consider its expertise in preparing the voter identity cards to be used in the next parliamentary election.
At a presentation on the preparation of voter identity cards before the council of advisers at the chief adviser’s (CA) office, the army representatives described the technical aspects of preparing the voter list with ID cards.

CA Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, members of the council of advisers, Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda, election commissioners and high civil and military officials were present on the occasion.

The Bangladesh Army has the expertise in preparing the voter identity cards, Army chief Lt Gen Moeen U Ahmed said in his brief introductory speech at the presentation.

The army is ready to do the task if the government decides to use their expertise, sources quoted the army chief as saying.

During the presentation, senior army officials said they would need eight to ten months and around Tk 300 crore to prepare the voter list with identity cards, sources said.

While exchanging views with representatives of the civil administration, political leaders, journalists and representatives of government and non-government agencies at Bandarban Cantonment on February 8, the army chief expressed the same view about the time and expenditure for the task.

An election commissioner yesterday termed the army’s offer to use their expertise in preparing the voter identity cards ‘a good one’.

As part of the ongoing consultations for the preparation of voter ID cards, the presentation by the army representatives was made on the basis of their field level experiences at home and abroad, said a government handout.

Later, the national committee on voter ID cards made another presentation at the same venue.

“These are part of a series of presentations to be made before the council of advisers on the subject to assist the government and the Election Commission to take a decision on the matter,” said the handout.

The EC is waiting for the government’s opinion to decide whether the voter list will be prepared with identity cards or with photographs, sources said, adding that the EC will sit today to finalise a set of proposals for electoral reforms.

Earlier an adviser to the caretaker government said they would take decision on voter identity cards in early March after receiving the report from the national expert committee.

In 1994, providing the voters with identity cards was made mandatory by amending the Representation of the People Act. The EC was given the authority to provide the voters with the ID cards. But the project failed to achieve the goals due to massive financial irregularities and corruption.

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