‘Enumerators did not visit every home’
Many Dhaka dwellers have complained that Election Commission’s (EC) designated enumerators did not visit their homes for registering new voters.
The enumerators, mostly comprised of school teachers, were supposed to go door-to-door to collect information from July 3 to 23.
But a good number of residents of Pallabi, Mirpur 10, Jigatola, Azimpur, Segunbagicha, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi and others parts of Dhaka, yesterday said that enumerators did not visit their homes.
“No one visited my home to update the voter list,” said Mashiur Rahman, a Mirpur 10 resident. “I am not sure whether my family members will be included in the list or not,” he added.
Mia Mohammad Arnab of Jigatola Natun Rasta and Kader Miah of Shwerapara also made similar statements among many others.
Any citizen born on or before January 1, 2001 is eligible to get enlisted as a voter.
EC officials said data of citizens who were born on or before January 1, 2002, 2003 and 2004 were collected and they would gradually be included in the electoral roll after reaching the age of 18.
A draft of the updated voter list will be published on January 2 next year.
EC collected information of residents who reside in areas under 12 police stations: Lalbagh, Sabujbagh, Uttara, Motijheel, Ramna, Gulshan, Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Pallabi, Cantonment and Tejgaon.
They collected information in areas under Demra, Sutrapur and Kotwali police stations during the first phase, which was from April 23 to May 13.
Many Dhaka dwellers also alleged that on some occasions, enumerators urged residents to gather at a designated place for collection of their data. In some cases, enumerators also urged people to visit schools to get their name in the list.
“They announced that people who did not have their name collected should contact the local housing committee chairman office. They made the announcement by miking on the streets, so you had to be outside and at that spot to hear it,” said a Lalmatia Housing Society resident.
“Action will be taken against enumerators if we get specific allegations,” Dhaka District Election Officer Faisal Quader said.
Brig Gen Mohammad Sidul Islam, director general at the EC’s National Identity Card Wing, said that in many instances, city dwellers did not allow enumerators to enter their house over different issues. “On many occasions, they found houses locked,” he said.
“If anyone’s data was not collected, they will be able to list their name when we start taking photographs of listed people in September,” he said.
Currently, there are around 46 lakh voters in the capital and 10.42 crore voters in the country.
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