Distribution of the National Identity Cards (NID) among over seven million new voters of the country will begin this month, ahead of the upcoming parliamentary polls.
Election Commissioner Md Shah Nawaz told reporters in the EC Secretariat on Wednesday that the commission would start the procedure in Dhaka and will cover the rest of the country in October.
The identity cards will be distributed district-wise, in a “chronological order”. There are around 508,465 new voters in Dhaka district and 367,460 in the Dhaka City Corporation.
The commission was undecided about how to distribute the cards, with options ranging from going door-to-door to inviting voters to collect them on their own.
The commission would come to a decision about the matter soon, said Md Shah Nawaz.
Regarding the National Identity Registration (Amendment) Bill 2013, he said the commission would take next steps for providing NID cards to those below the age of 18 after the bill was passed.
The bill states that each citizen of the country will attain the right to have a national identity card and that the Election Commission will provide it.
On Monday, the bill was placed in the parliament and sent to the relevant parliamentary standing committee, which would report back to the house within seven days.
“If the bill is passed, the citizens less than 18 years will be provided with NID cards, but not registered as voters,” said the Election Commissioner.
After the inclusion of the fresh voters, the number on the electoral roll has swollen to 92,198,029, according to an EC secretariat source.
Shah Newaz said those who want to vote in the tenth parliamentary polls must include their names before the constituency-wise voters’ list is prepared in CD format.
Meanwhile the EC had instructed its field level officials and the National ID department to prepare a constituency-wise voters’ list in a CD format by October 15 as part of its preparations for holding the polls.
The commission would prepare a separate CD for those who will fail to include their names in due time, he added.
The commission, which began giving ID cards in 2008, is spending Tk3 against each card, with the total costs surpassing Tk21m.
According to the Clause (3) (A) of Article 123 of the constitution, the 10th parliamentary polls will have to be held on any day between October 27, 2013 and January 24, 2014.