Gender gap in draft electoral roll this time too

The enrolment of female voters, like the previous time, has become lower than the male ones in the latest draft of electoral roll, raising concern among the Election Commission (EC) officials. 

Around 15 lakh new voters have been included in the draft of updated electoral roll that was revealed on Monday. Of them, around 5 lakh are female voters, whereas over 9.02 lakh are male ones, according to EC statistics. After completing necessary scrutiny and correction, the commission will reveal the final voter list on January 31.

EC Secretary Muhammad Abdullah said, “The ratio of male and female population in Bangladesh is almost same, but the enrolment of female voters is lower than the male ones. This is a matter of concern.”

In the previous electoral roll published early last year, over 44.32 lakh new voters were included in the electoral register. Of them, 23.32 lakh were males and 21 lakh females.

Taking into consideration the lower enrolment of female voters, the EC in the last year formed three probe bodies to find out the reasons in around a dozen of districts.

The probe bodies then found that social stigma, the tendency of showing girls' age lesser than the actual age, and a lack of interest of women, were the main reasons behind the low enrolment of female voters, said EC officials.

As the condition remains unchanged this time around, the EC now plans to investigate the issue again and chalk out a plan for increasing the number of female voters.

 “We will revisit the documents of our previous probe reports. If necessary, we will form probe bodies again,” Abdullah told The Daily Star last night.

Currently there are around 10.14 crore voters in Bangladesh. Of them, 5.12 crore are males and 5.02 crore are females.