For the past 6 years, Abdus Samad from Bagatipara upazila in Natore has not been able to vote, sign legal papers or get any benefits as he’s legally dead according to government records.
In 2014, when he went to vote for the upazila parishad election, he found out that he was somehow on the list of the deceased ineligible voters.
Ever since then, Samad has been sending letters to the relevant authorities as well as urging the public representatives to rectify the mistake but to no avail, he is still dead according to government records.
He has submitted applications to the local councilor, upazila election office and the upazila chairman.
The farmer from Lokkhonhati village in the upazila said he was frustrated by the inaction of the concerned authorities.
Even when everyone in the village on Friday got their smart card (machine-readable national identity (NID), he was left out.
Lastly, he submitted an application at the upazila election office where he was assured that he would be declared alive within a short time. However, he is apprehensive about how many more years he has to wait to be legally alive again.
Bagatipara municipality's Mayor Yusuf solemnly said, he has tried to rectify the mistake after he came to know about it a year ago but he was unsuccessful in doing so.
Upazila election officer Aminul Islam said, he got Samad's application about three months ago which was then sent to Dhaka. So, the matter will be solved after getting a correction from Dhaka.
Abdus Samad's son Fazlur Rahman said his father has faced difficulties and uncomfortable situations for being listed as dead by the government. He urges the relevant authorities to take necessary steps to solve the issue.
