Jumbangla Desk: The new Election Commission (EC) is planning to go door to door to collect information to update the voter list. For this, the commission secretariat has been instructed to prepare a working plan. The final decision in this regard will be taken in the commission meeting. However, no date has been fixed for the meeting. This instruction was given in a meeting held at the 'Electoral Bhavan' on Wednesday afternoon. Details from Yugantar's report-

In that meeting, the EC Secretariat presented a concept paper about the possible time, manpower and cost of door-to-door data collection.

It said the process would take seven to nine months to update the voter list. 75 thousand manpower will be required in this process. This information is known from multiple sources.

In the meeting, the members of the commission commented that the activities of the new commission will be visible to the common people if the door-to-door information collection program is taken. People's involvement with the Election Commission will be created in the changing situation of the country. This will increase people's interest in the election process. It will also be possible to verify the validity of the voter list. The new commission emphasizes on identifying whether there are Rohingya and fake voters in the voter list.

When asked about this, Election Commission Secretary Shafiul Azim said that a series of briefings will be given before the Election Commission on each of our activities. As a part of this, I first gave a briefing on the process of updating the voter list. We have highlighted our readiness, capabilities and where we are lacking. CEC and Election Commissioners will sit and decide on this. Incidentally, the number of voters increased to 12 crore 18 lakh in the latest update.

According to the relevant sources, every year there is a rule to publish the draft voter list on January 2 and the final list on March 2. The last data was collected in 2022 by going door to door. At that time, the EC also collected the data of 16-year-olds in advance. In this, the information of one crore and one lakh citizens is collected. Those who turn 18 years of age in 2023 and 2024 are then registered as voters. The EC has information on the remaining 1.3 lakh citizens who will turn 18 on January 1. Their names will be added to the updated list on March 2, 2025.

It is learned that the new commission is planning to update the voter list by going door to door and collecting information. The information taken in this program will be added to the updated list which will be published on March 2, 2026. That is, those who will be added as voters in the update, to give the opportunity to vote, the National Parliament elections must be held after March 2026.

The EC officials, who did not want to be named, said that if the updated voter list is to be published before that time, the voter list law should be amended. As the parliament is not in session at present, the interim government can amend the law in the form of an ordinance. The matter will depend on the decision of the Election Commission and the government. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin and four commissioners took charge last Sunday. After taking charge, they held the first meeting on the process of updating the voter list.

According to EC sources, in that meeting, EC Secretary Shafiul Azim gave a presentation about the law and rules and procedures for updating the voter list. At the same time, he presented the possible time, cost, logistic support and manpower figures for updating the voter list by going door to door. In the meeting, he also gave an idea about the possible time and cost of updating the voter list by going door to door.

In this, he said, if the program is taken to collect the information of people who are eligible to be a voter and remove the names of those who have died, it will take 7 months to implement it. It will likely cost Rs 125 crore. If the information is taken three years in advance like 2022, it will take 9 months and cost 195 crores. If the data of two years is taken, it will take 8 months and the cost will be 160 crores. 75 thousand manpower will be required for these activities.

It also informed that the equipment required for data collection, data entry, proof reading, photographing and fingerprinting of new voters is not fully stocked with the EC. These parts must be purchased. Separate forms should also be printed for collecting information of new voters and deceased. Training should also be given to those who will manage the update activities. Sources also said that there are questions in the current interim government about the transparency of the voter list. The EC Secretariat has been directed to find a strategy to identify whether there are fake voters or Rohingyas in the existing list.

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