Parents, paternal relatives NID necessary to register as new voters in 30 southern upazilas

New voters of 30 upazilas in Chittagong, Cox's Bazaar, Bandarban and Rangamati districts will have to submit photocopies of their parents’ and paternal uncles and aunts' National Identity Cards (NID) to become voters in the recent voter list update campaign. “The measure has been taken to prevent Rohingyas and foreigners to be voters during the voter list updating campaign,” Election Commission (EC) Secretary Muhammad Abdullah said on Monday. He made the remark while talking to the reporters after the first meeting with the members of newly formed EC central committee at Election Commission Bhaban in Dhaka’s Agargaon. The EC secretary said: “We are considering 30 upazilas from Chittagong, Cox's Bazaar, Bandarban and Rangamati as special areas. These upazilas will be under special monitoring during the voter list updating campaign as the chance of enlisting Rohingyas and other foreigners as voters is higher in these areas.” Among the 30 upazilas, 20 were previously marked as special areas and 10 upazilas are being included newly, the EC secretary added. At least 30 specially formed committees of EC will be deployed in the special areas during the voter list update campaign, he added. Around 3.5m fresh voters are expected to be registered nationwide in this voter list update campaign which will start from July 25. EC officials will knock each door of the nation to collect data during the 72-day-long campaign. They will publish the draft of updated voter list on January 2 in 2018. The new voter list will be finalised on January 31, 2018 as per the schedule.