EC targets aliens

Dhaka, May 18 (bdnews24.com) — The Election Commission (EC) has requested the government for information to ensure that foreign nationals, including Rohingyas, are excluded from the voters roll.

The commission's deputy-secretary Mihir Sarwar Morshed told bdnews24.com that it has sent a letter to the home ministry requesting information on areas where foreigners and Rohingyas might trespass into Bangladesh.

In 2009, when the voters' roll was being updated, some 50,000 Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong Hill Tracts, and 10 people, supposedly ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) members were identified as listed voters in Moulvibazar.

Mihir said, "They enlisted themselves so that they could get the national id. But they were identified and excluded from the list."

"Now we are taking the initiative to prevent this from happening again," he added.

Director of the electoral roll preparation (PERP) Brig Gen Akhtaruzzaman Siddique told bdnews24.com that the experience of this pilot project would help minimise the past errors.

He said the EC would release special registration forms during the pilot project of updating the voter list from July in border areas of Naogaon and Ukhia to identify Rohingya and Indian nationals.

The project would continue in ward-41 at Gulshan in Dhaka and Kaliakoir in Gazipur which will end in August, he said.

The project director also said the updating exercise will begin in September over the country once the project is completed.

After the update of 2009, the number of voters stood at 85.74 million which was 4.7 million higher than the first list.

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