Five organisations using the National Identity (NID) verification service leaked data to third parties, the Election Commission (EC) has found in a preliminary investigation.

The five organisations are the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), UCB Bank's Upay, Chattogram Port Authority, the Department of Women Affairs, and finance ministry's iBAS (Integrated Budget and Accounting System).

The organisations have been served show-cause notices, EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told journalists yesterday after a meeting with the organisations using the NID verification service at the EC headquarters in the capital's Agargaon.

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A total of 182 organisations currently use the NID verification service.

The EC secretary further said, "We are investigating whether this happened due to negligence or intentional misconduct. If anyone is found to have done this deliberately, it will be considered a punishable offence."

"There should be a limit on data usage. Keeping it open and then blaming the perpetrators is not the right approach," he added.

He further said that some organisations are sharing the service with others, violating contractual terms.

The EC will review how much data each entity is accessing and whether it exceeds their actual requirements, in consultation with stakeholders.