The Election Commission (EC) has distributed National Identity (NID) smart cards to 73,600,541 citizens across the country, while distribution has yet to begin in 115 of the country's 404 electoral police stations or upazilas, officials of the EC's NID Wing said on Wednesday.
According to the officials, as of May, the EC had sent 87,572,998 smart cards to regional offices nationwide.
Of those, 73,600,541 smart cards have been distributed, while 13,902,457 remain pending, bringing the overall distribution rate to 84.04%.
EC officials said smart card distribution has been completed in all upazilas of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Naogaon, Gaibandha, Panchagarh, Gopalganj, Chuadanga, Kushtia, Magura, Meherpur, Narail, Jhenaidah, Barguna, Jhalakathi and Pirojpur districts.
However, distribution has not yet started in 115 electoral police stations or upazilas across the country.
According to the EC, its server currently contains the records of 128,323,240 citizens.
Of them, 65,212,731 are men, 63,109,266 are women, and 1,243 are third-gender individuals.
Based on the EC's data, around 55 million registered citizens are still outside the coverage of smart NID card distribution.