Data collection to update electoral roll starts July 25

The Election Commission-appointed enumerators will begin visiting from door to door to collect data of citizens to update electoral roll on July 25.

The EC has decided to collect data of the citizens aged 15 years and above for the first time, said its Secretary Sirazul Islam at a press conference at the commission's media centre today.

Earlier, data of the citizens of age 18 years and above were collected.

However, only those who have completed 18 years of age will be included in the electoral roll.

Data of those citizens, who were born on or before January 1, 2000 will be collected. But only those, who were born on or before January 1, 1998, will be registered in the electoral roll, the secretary said.

"We are collecting their (below 18) data in advance to process their personal information to prepare national identity (NID) cards," he added.

The electoral roll programme will be implemented in 189 upazilas in the first phase, 184 upazilas in the second phase and 141 upazilas in the third phase.

In the first phase, the enumerators will collect data from July 25 to August 9 visiting from door to door. Then the people will have to come to an EC-authorized registration centre to register in the electoral roll and taking photographs in between August 11 to September 1.

In the second phase, the enumerators will collect data from August 16 to August 30, while registration and photo shoot will be completed in between September 3 to September 22.

In the third phase, data will be collected from September 7 to September 22, while registration and photo shoot will be done from September 30 to October 22.

A total of 50,000 enumerators will work to complete the task, while upazila-level coordination committee will supervise the function.

The EC expects that around 72 lakh new voters will be included in the electoral roll.

The existing number of voters is over 9.62 crore.

Special measures will be taken in different upazilas of Cox's Bazar, Bandarban and Rangamati so that Rohingya and trespassers can not be included in the voter list.