Noted economist Dr Atiur Rahman, also an advocate of rights of the people with disability, and New Age Editor Nurul Kabir were the keynote speakers.

Todd Sorenson, director, Office of Democracy, Governance and Education, USAID spoke on the occasion.

Representatives of the Election Commission, political parties, civil society and donor community, including Deborah Healy, senior program manager, NDI, Dr Owen Lippert, resident director, NDI, and MA Sattar Dulal of NADPO, also attended the function.

The roundtable, which was held in collaboration with the National Alliance of Disabled Persons Organisations (NADPO), focused on the difficulties experienced by people with disability both in the registration and the election process.

There are approximately 7.5 million disabled voters in the country and areas for discussion on people with disability included assistance in registration to vote; identification on the voters list; accessibility to polling centres; raising awareness of political parties, candidates and election observers on the rights of voters with disability; and assistance in casting votes in elections. The role of the media was also discussed.

Recommendations from the roundtable will be presented to the Election Commission.