Officials and employees of the Election Commission (EC) will stage demonstrations on Thursday to protest the move to transfer national identity (NID) services to a separate registration commission.
Mohammad Monir Hossain, convener of the Bangladesh Election Commission Officers Association, announced the program at a press conference at the EC Secretariat in the capital on Wednesday.
“We will observe the "Stand for NID" program from 11am to 1pm tomorrow at the EC Secretariat and its offices throughout the country,” Monir Hossain said.
He said that EC officials submitted a memorandum to the chief election commissioner on March 5, demanding visible steps from the EC and the government to cancel the initiative.
He added that the EC agreed with them and sent a letter to the government on Sunday, arguing to keep NID services under its authority.
“Despite receiving a response from the commission, we have not heard anything from the government. Therefore, we announced this program, as our demand was not met by Wednesday,” he said.
The current government has initiated a fresh move to bring several civic services, including birth registration and national identity registration, under a single entity named the Civil Registration Commission, causing frustration among EC officials and employees.
On Monday, an inter-ministerial committee meeting was held in the Cabinet Division to review the draft of the Civil Registration (Commission) Ordinance, 2025.
A representative from the EC Secretariat was also present at the additional secretary-level meeting.
In 2023, the previous Awami League government enacted the National Identity Registration Act, 2023, transferring the national identity registration operation from the Election Commission to the Security Services Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.