Staff and officials from the Election Commission's IDEA-2 project held a sit-in on Wednesday demanding the nationalization of their outsourced jobs at the commission and the reversal of the decision to place the National Identity Card (NID) administration under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In addition to the sit-in, their work stoppage led to the suspension of NID services.
Starting at 8am on Wednesday, the protesters gathered in front of the Election Commission building in Agargaon, Dhaka.
Similar demonstrations were also taking place outside election offices across the country.
The decision to hold the protest was made during a meeting on Tuesday. Following the meeting, the staff began their sit-in outside the Election Commission building later that night.
The protesters outlined two main demands: First, they want the decision to transfer NID responsibilities to the Ministry of Home Affairs reversed, maintaining the NID operations under the Election Commission. Second, they are calling for the nationalization of all outsourced jobs associated with the IDEA project.
All officials and employees from grades 9 to 20 under the IDEA-2 project at the Election Commission Secretariat are participating in the protest.
They have also submitted a memorandum to the chief adviser of the interim government, reiterating their demands.
According to sources within the Election Commission, the IDEA project employs 2,261 personnel responsible for NID-related tasks handled by the commission.
