‘EC won’t let the Rohingya become voters’

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda on Tuesday said the Election Commission (EC) remains cautious about the newly arrived Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and will prevent them from becoming voters. "The EC is aware about the Rohingya… so that they cannot be enrolled as voters during updating of the voter list," the CEC as said when addressing a view exchange meeting at the conference room of the Tangail Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office with EC Secretary Helaluddin in chair, reports BSS. The meeting agenda also included the upcoming general election, and bi-polls of District Councils, Upazila Parishads and Union Parishads across the country on September 24. Nurul Huda said a special committee is monitoring the 30 Rohingya inhabited Upazilas to prevent them from being enrolled as voters. Speaking about deployment of army in the next general elections, Nurul Huda said: "Most of the political parties demanded deploying army during the election ... but discussions are yet to be held with all political parties on the issue". Tangail DC Khan Md Nurul Amin and Superintendent of Police (SP) Mahbub Alam also spoke in the meeting, among others.