The Election Commission (EC) has issued letters to all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners (DCs), seeking information on officials who served in various timeline during the national elections held in 2014, 2018 and 2024 under the Awami League government, which was later ousted through July uprising.
This move follows a case filed on June 22 with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station in the capital over alleged electoral irregularities.
In light of this, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) requested the EC to provide detailed information on the officials involved.
In response, the EC is now collecting this data from the field level for submission to the PBI.
According to EC sources, the PBI asked for detailed information on returning officers, presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers who carried out duties during the aforementioned elections.
The requested details include names, addresses, names of father and mother, permanent and present addresses, national ID numbers, passport numbers, mobile numbers and polling station-specific information.
Accordingly, the EC sent letters on Sunday to divisional commissioners and DCs, instructing them to forward this information to the EC Secretariat.
In national elections, 64 DCs and the divisional commissioners of Dhaka and Chittagong act as returning officers, while upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs) usually serve as assistant returning officers.
However, the recent letter did not mention assistant returning officers.
In addition, district and upazila election officers are also engaged in the electoral process.
Altogether, nearly 2,00,000 officials serve as presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, and polling officers during national elections.