"In a bid to reduce dependency on the government, we want the power to formulate rules. The government will decide whether it will provide the Election Commission with the power," Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told The Daily Star yesterday.

The EC has already prepared a set of proposals which will be sent to the government for amending the Electoral Rolls Ordinance 1982.

To remove ambiguity in the existing electoral rolls ordinance, whether the voter list will be prepared afresh before each parliamentary election, the EC in its proposals incorporated a provision for updating the voter list every year, sources in the EC said.

The electoral rolls ordinance will have to be amended by this month as the preparation of the voter list with photographs is set to begin early next month. The government is expected to promulgate another ordinance to amend the electoral rolls ordinance, sources said.

Meanwhile, the local administration and the election office in Rajshahi City Corporation are almost ready to begin their work to prepare the voter list from the first week of August.

Two election commissioners--Muhammed Sohul Hossain and Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat Hossain--will visit Rajshahi on July 22-23 and evaluate the field-level preparation work of the voter enrolment.

Talking to reporters at his office yesterday, Election Commissioner Sakhawat said it would take one month to complete the voter list in Rajshahi city.

"At the beginning, we are placing emphasis on preparing voter lists of the city corporations and municipalities so that elections of the local government bodies could be held," he said.

He said the EC by mid-July would announce a detailed plan to prepare the voter list across the country.

Asked whether political unrest will create any obstacle to the field-level task of making the voter list, Sakhawat said, "That is not our concern. In Rajshahi, we will see whether we face any problems."