Citizens eligible for being registered as voters however will have to visit the voter registration centres to have their photographs taken at their conveniences. The enumerators will distribute voter registration forms in advance by going from door to door to expedite the process and to encourage eligible citizens to visit the centres.

Besides, the EC is drafting a proposal for bringing amendments to the existing electoral ordinance and rules, with a stringent provision against any act discouraging eligible citizens to be registered as voters. Discouraging eligible people to be registered as voters will become a punishable offence with a maximum of one-year imprisonment and fines, if the proposed amendments become part of the law, sources said.

In a bid to get closer to the people, the EC decided to double the number of the voter registration centres across the country. In its original plan, the number of registration centres was about 50,000 but it will be about one lakh now, as the EC specified every voters' area will have a registration centre.

To study the feasibility of the procedure the EC will begin a pilot project on June 10 in Sripur municipality of Gazipur.

Earlier, the EC announced that it would prepare the voter list with photographs and national identity cards by only setting up voter registration centres instead of going from door to door. Major political parties have been opposing the plan demanding door to door visits.

"Along with setting up the registration centres, we are of course considering sending enumerators to door to door visits to distribute voter registration forms. They will encourage eligible people to come to the voter registration centres after filling up the forms. If anybody cannot fill up the forms, the enumerators will assist them," Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain told reporters yesterday.

The authenticity of the information collected from the voter registration forms will be checked at the voter registration centres, the election commissioner said.

"We have asked the government to make the use of the national identity cards mandatory for having access to some government facilities," he said adding that the move will encourage eligible citizens to register their names as voters.

About the locations of the voter registration centres, the election commissioner said those will be set up in every voters' area, an administrative unit of the EC regarding the voter list.

Currently there are about one lakh voters' areas across the country while the number of polling stations used for local government elections is about 50,000. The EC earlier planned to set up voter registration centres at polling stations but now the centres will be set up in almost every neighbourhood.

If every voters' area have a registration centre, then each of them will register about 900 voters, and the entire process will end up registering an estimated 9 crore voters.

According to the EC's current plan 12,000 units will work to prepare the voter list across the country in phases and each of them so far is estimated to visit eight voters' areas. Some members of each team will stay at a voter registration centre at least for five to seven days during the team's visit there. During their stay at a centre, any eligible person may visit the centre during office hours to have his or her photograph taken. The prospective voter will not have to spend much time in the centre if he or she has the voter registration form filled up beforehand.

Election Commissioner Sakhawat Hossain yesterday sought cooperation from all political parties and all sections of the people in completing the task successfully.

Asked about the political parties' opposition against the process of preparing the voter list by setting up registration centres, the election commissioner said the field level EC officials can go from door to door, but it will take a long time. "For example, if a team visits a house to register some voters, it will take two or three hours. But if prospective voters visit the centres it will require a lesser amount of time to get the same job done," he said adding, "Saving time is our priority!"

To encourage the enumerators, the EC will pay remunerations to them as soon as they complete their jobs. Besides, students might be involved in the task of data entry and they will also be paid for it, the election commissioner said.

"The election commission must be successful in preparing the voter list for the sake of the nation to avert another political crisis," he said referring to the recent political turmoil centring the stalled January 22 parliamentary election.

Voters will get provisional national identity cards first, which they will be able to surrender to proper authorities later in exchange for permanent national ID cards.

PILOT PROJECT
The pilot project for preparing simultaneously the voter list with photographs and temporary national identity cards for voters of Sripur will continue for about three weeks at an estimated cost of Tk 25 lakh.

So far 16 to 20 teams are scheduled to take part in the project with each of them comprising four staff.

The number of voters in the municipality was about 35,000 till 2006 and 16 polling stations were used in the area during the election held in 2002, sources in the EC Secretariat said.

Election Commissioner Sakhawat said voter registration centres for the pilot project will be set up in polling stations used for the municipality election, and the enumerators will go from door to door to distribute voter registration forms.

"A massive campaign will be launched to encourage eligible people to be registered as voters," he said.

The EC requested the army to provide technical support for the pilot project, the election commissioner added.