EC claims voter list expenditure Tk 9.7cr

The Election Commission (EC) Secretariat claimed yesterday that Tk 9.70 crore was spent for preparing the draft voter list, but the actual expenditure should be about 10 times the claim.

In the wake of severe criticism against the EC for wasting huge amount of public money for preparing a fresh voter list ignoring High Court directives, the EC Secretariat suddenly came up with the claim.

But Joint Secretary of the EC Secretariat Jesmin Tuli, who was designated to brief the media at her office, failed to provide the details of the expenditure.

Senior officials of the EC Secretariat who were involved in the task of preparation of the fresh voter list did not provide Jesmin with detailed information on the expenditure of the task, sources alleged.

In a written statement, Jesmin, now secretary-in-charge of the EC Secretariat in the absence of the acting secretary, said the secretariat received Tk 59.87 crore from the finance ministry for the task and has so far spent Tk 9.70 crore.

The EC Secretariat document, however, shows that it had allocated Tk 43.96 crore for the task that started in August 2005. A total of Tk 27.24 crore was allocated for the remuneration of 2,16,723 enumerators and 55,684 supervisors who have worked for the last four months, and Tk 16.72 crore for miscellaneous purposes.

But the payment of the manpower's remuneration has been stopped following the May 23 Supreme Court (SC) verdict that declared the preparation of a fresh voter list illegal.

The secretary-in-charge did not say if the allocated money has been spent for any other purposes.

Meanwhile, the EC Secretariat officials said most of the work of the fresh voter list was completed and it will need about Tk 100 crore to clear all payments for the task from the preparatory stage to the publication of the draft list.

They said a budget of Tk 146 crore was proposed for preparing the fresh voter list, the major portion of which was supposed to be spent for the task from the preparatory stage to the publication of draft list.

According to the claim of the secretary-in-charge, however, the expenditure so far stands at Tk 9.70 crore.

In 2000, Tk 75 crore was spent for the work up to the publication of the draft voter list and Tk 22.44 crore for printing the final list.

Asked how much of the payments is still due, Jesmin said, "I do not have any such information."

On the remuneration for the manpower, she said the EC will decide about it, "But I think they will get their remuneration as they have worked for the last four months."

The EC Secretariat has allocated Tk 27.24 crore for the first installment of payment to the enumerators and supervisors. The amount will at least double if the EC Secretariat pays their full remunerations. In 2000, it had spent Tk 56 crore for this purpose.

Jesmin said the rest of the money will be refunded to the government exchequer if the secretariat does not spend the money by June 30 this year.

About the EC's next course of action, she said the EC will decide it upon receiving a certified copy of the SC judgement.

Acting Secretary of the EC Secretariat Mohammad Zakoria left Dhaka for South Korea on May 17, and the EC gave the charge of the secretariat to Joint Secretary Jesmin Tuli on May 22 with a retrospective effect from May 18.

No officials who were involved in the task for preparation of the fresh voter list attended the briefing.