This was found during spot visits by a team of The Daily Star correspondents yesterday.

Two thousand and two hundred voters out of 3,600 at Rishipara of Maniknagar, a minority- dominated area, are not on the voter list. They staged a demonstration in the area yesterday protesting that they are not being listed this time also.

"Fearing that people of Rishipara might cast votes for Awami League, the names these voters were deleted after registration", said a disgruntled first time voter.

Only 15 of the 300 tenants at house No32 of Rishipara were listed as voters.

Nobokumar, 'panchayet chief' of Rishipara, said field level Election Commission (EC) staff had come for updating the voter list once and listed 140 names. Later, 90 names were erased.

Replying to a query, he said, "We had informed the authorities about this and they assured us of looking into the matter. But they are yet to do this."

Kashi Nath Chandra Das, a resident of house No 29/1 in the same locality, alleged that only 25 of the 60 eligible voters at the house were registered.

Mohammad Didar, a teacher at Motijheel Ideal Primary School working as a field level EC staff, however ruled out the allegations, saying, " We had visited every house, and no names were excluded".

But, he said, he would again go to the houses with specific allegations.

A serious flaw in the voter list was unearthed in the city's Dhalpur area yesterday as only a few voters were found at holding numbers 60/6 to 60/10 while 3,500 voters were on the updated list.

Badal Sardar, ward commissioner of DCC ward 85 and also a BNP leader, was shown as the addressee of the 3,500 voters.

The correspondents checked the names of 373 voters from serial No 11,836 to 12,209 on the list and found about 15 genuine voters.

Asked about the other names on the list, many of the tenants said none having such names ever lived here.

Locals alleged that the ward commissioner was involved in the foul play. Badal however denied the allegation and said these voters have gone out and will come back.

Enumerator Sabiha Mobarak, who was correcting the voter list in the area yesterday, admitted the mischief and said she is deleting the names.

Badal's brother Monir Hossain offered Tk 500 to the correspondents for tea and requested them to leave the area.

Around 60 people at Sonargaon slum at Golapbagh in the same ward, alleged that their names were not included in the updated voter list. The EC staff visited them yesterday but did not list their names. One of them, Sheikh Mohammad, said," We heard that our names were not listed on the ground that we support Awami League."

MIRPUR, PALLABI

Residents of Mirpur and Pallabi feared that many voters, who moved to other houses in the same areas or to other localities might be dropped from the updated voter list.

Since the field staff do not have clear instruction from the EC, some of them in Pallabi are deleting the names of those voters who moved to other houses in the last three months, and enlisting those who came to the houses they had left.

On the other hand, some other EC staff in Mirpur said they are neither listing the names of those who came to the area in the last three months nor deleting the names of those who left the area.

Meanwhile, many EC staff alleged shortage of forms to enlist new voters. Twenty-five people who recently bought flats in Pallabi area could not be listed as voters due to lack of forms, one of them said yesterday.

A number of staff alleged that some local leaders of both the BNP and Awami League are pressuring them to give them forms for listing their supporters as voters.

More than 500 voters, lived in a ten-storey building stands next to the ward commissioner's office at Sukrabad, are yet to be listed as voter.

The Daily Star correspondents talked to Mohammad Ansar Uddin, one of the tenants of the building and also a Madrasa teacher at West Rajabazar, who regretted as saying this is for the third time he heard that the field level election officials are enlisting names but he didn't see anyone so far.

Moinul Islam, an official of the same area, said this is not an aberration. "Huge numbers of voters have been kept away from the list... My younger brother's name was also not on the list and the same happened at different places of Kalabagan staff quarter area," Islam said.

When asked about the incident, an assistant registration officer (ARO) and also an assistant headmaster of Dhanmondi Boys School, said, "Lots of floating people are here in Dhaka and it's really tough to carry out the enumeration process properly."

Mohammad Abdul Baker, a teacher of the same school and also a field level election official, said numbers of voters have been decreased in Sukrabad area after updating the voter list.

According to Baker, the numbers of voters were 17,000 at the fresh voter list, while the number reduced to 14,000 at the updated list. However, he ruled out any possibility of dropout.

The inhabitants of Mohammadpur area feared they might not be listed, as none of the filed level officials was yet to come to register their names.

Police officials, deployed in front of the house of the acting chief election commissioner, were also not listed at all.

Meanwhile, the residents of Shantinagar area expressed satisfaction over the enumeration activities. Those, who were left out from the voter list, were seen enlisting their names enthusiastically.

At Sabujbagh, Monindra Kar, a retired government official and his family members were excluded from the list though the names of the rest of the tenants lived in the same building were listed.

GM Patwari, a field level official, said 10 teams are now working at ward no. 31 and they were given only 100 forms.

Teachers, who are taking part at enumeration process, expressed dissatisfactions, as they will get only Tk 500 this time. The teachers were given Tk 2,000 in two phases earlier, sources said.

However, surprisingly, the activists of both the major parties were seen assisting people enlist their names.

Our Gazipur correspondent said the field level officials were seen going to each and every house. However, the residents of Baria, Chandnao, Noagaon, Amuna, Kaultia and Jhajar villages alleged that none has yet to come to them.

Around 100 eligible voters of Awami League dominated Tahir, Ekdala and Laupara villages of Ganipur union at Bagmara upazila were shown 'dead' in the updated voter list, which was revealed yesterday during the correction work, reported our Rajshahi correspondent.

The district election officer issued a show-cause notice against ARO Abdul Anam after the inhabitants brought an allegation against him saying Anam, a BNP loyalist, intentionally committed 'error.'

Our Netrakona correspondent quoted Farid Uddin, one of the upazila election officers of the district, who admitted incidents of some major irregularities in the correction process.

The field level election officials did not get proper instruction about the procedures for including and deleting names on the voter list and they also were not provided with enough forms, said Mohammad Naimuddin, an ARO of Atpara upazila.

Our Nilphamari correspondent reported that scarcity of forms is hindering the correction process in the northern district.