Updated voter list to see unusual growth

The country's voter list is going to see an "unusual" growth as data of some 39.28 lakh people have already been collected against the Election Commission's estimate of 24 lakh fresh voters.

The commission in last July started updating voter lists expecting that some 24 lakh fresh voters will be enrolled with a 2.5 percent growth of the existing 9.62 crore voters.

According to field-level data received by the EC Secretariat as of September 21, enumerators collected the statistics of 39,28, 644 people in 546 upazilas, showing a 4.09 percent growth.

Of them, 30,66,882, including 15,93,002 men and 14,73,882 women, have been registered as new voters.

EC officials said the number of fresh voters might be even higher once all the people in the remaining 150 upazilas, which also cover the densely populated capital Dhaka, are enlisted.

Though 2.5 percent growth was estimated, the rate is more than 4 percent in 310 upazilas out of some 400 where all possible voters were included as of September 21, a day before the data collection process ended.

The highest growth rate of 8.71 percent was recorded in Ramganj upazila of Laxmipur, followed by 8.48 percent in Chunarughat of Habiganj, 8.40 percent in Bhedarganj of Shariatpur, 8.28 percent in Madhabpur of Habiganj, 8.27 percent in Kamalnagar of Laxmipur and 8.00 percent in Companyganj of Noakhali.

However, the scenario is quite different in term of under-18 nationals as data of only 23 lakh youths have been collected against the commission's estimated 48 lakh youths.

This year, the commission collected the data of the under-18 nationals aiming to list them as voters in 2017 and 2018 when they will turn 18.

EC Secretary Sirazul Islam said the main reason behind the high growth may be that many dropouts are now more interested to be voters for having the national identity cards.

He said they will examine why some upazilas got much higher growth rate compared to others.

Data of some 6.36 lakh dead voters were collected which will be erased from the voter list.

The commission will publish the final updated voter list on January 31, 2016 after disposing of complaints, if any.