They also vented their frustration about not getting any inspiring response from the people even into the third day of the campaign yesterday since the process had begun on Saturday.

In many rural areas it has not even begun yet, they said.

A large number of field level officials are fearing trouble from local units of opposition parties since they rejected the EC adopted system for updating the voter list.

The officials are regularly communicating with the EC Secretariat inquiring about whether the method of not going from door to door is about to be changed, sources said.

"We are waiting for further directives from the election commission as we found that it will not be possible to update the voter list properly without door to door visits," a district election officer told The Daily Star yesterday.

But the EC remains rigid on its decision of not going from door to door and has been keeping mum about the prevailing situation since the beginning of the task amid at best a lukewarm response from the people.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) MA Aziz and two election commissioners -- Justice Mahfuzur Rahman and SM Zakaria, however at a meeting yesterday discussed the progress of the task, sources said. But the CEC declined to talk to the media about the meeting.

Only a very few people collected forms for their inclusion on the voter list in the last three days, although over one crore people have become eligible to be registered as voters over the last five years.

Many election offices across the country could not distribute a single form for deletion of names of fake voters or of persons who died, although it has been estimated by various organisations that at least one crore fake voters' names exist on the list.

Considering the people's lukewarm response and difficulties the officers are facing to start the task in rural areas, the district and upazila election officers already started questioning the fate of the voter listing.

"People can't be interested in being registered as voters following the current procedure, but I have nothing to do but to carry out the order of the Election Commission," Nurul Hasan Bhuiyan, Khagrachhari district election officer, told The Daily Star correspondent.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Netrakona district election officer said the percentage of enrolment on the voter list will be very low if the current method is continued.

Dulal Alam, Khagrachhari Sadar upazila secondary education officer who is recruited as an ARO told our Khagrachhari correspondent that it is impossible to enrol eligible people following the system initiated by the EC.

"I could not enlist some people as voters even after visiting their residences 18 times. So is it wise for us to expect that they will physically come to our offices to get enlisted as voters?" ARO Deen Mohammad Khan, also a teacher of Kakoli High School at Dhanmondi in the capital, told reporters referring to his experience.

The Netrakona district election officer admitted that the task of updating the voter list has not even begun yet in all the107 offices of the assistant registration officers (ARO). Our Netrakona correspondent yesterday visited 16 offices of the AROs and found all the offices shut.

"I am in doubt whether the Election Commission wants to implement the programme for updating the voter list or just wants to pass a few more months," a district election officer told The Daily Star yesterday referring to the EC's rigid attitude for updating the voter list without door to door visits.

Talking to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, the district election officer said the EC decided to use the offices of representatives to different local government bodies. But it did not write to the LGRD and cooperatives ministry asking it to issue a circular directing the local government bodies to cooperate with the voter listing task.

Similarly, the EC did not seek cooperation from the Cabinet Division that controls the government's field level administration. But during the EC's previous attempt to prepare a fresh voter list, which the Supreme Court later declared illegal, the Cabinet Division had issued a circular ordering the field level administration to provide the EC officials with assistance following the commission's request, sources added.

"Many government officials at district and upazila levels have been recruited as ARO. But they are showing no interest in the task," a district election officer said.

Meanwhile, publicity for updating the voter list has yet to begin in many areas. "We will start publicity soon and start to sit in our offices to distribute the forms for updating the voter list," Humayun Kabir, fishery officer of Atpara upazila in Netrakona also an ARO, told our correspondent.

Sources in Narail, Habiganj and Tangail district election administrations said they could not start the task due to lack of adequate preparation, manpower and cooperation from union parishads.

"Several assistant registration officers went to the offices of the union parishads, but they found that the offices were closed. Even, where we started distributing the forms, we did not get any feedback from the people," an ARO said.

After visiting different areas of Barisal City Corporation (BCC) and its adjacent areas, our Barisal correspondent reports that people are not interested in collecting the voter registration forms by going to the offices of ward commissioners and union parishads.

Besides, the field level EC officials were not found in the offices from where they are supposed to distribute the forms. Ward commissioners of BCC said it will not be possible to prepare a flawless voter list without door to door visits.