So far, 5 crore 9 lakh 49 thousand 472 voters have received smart cards. AKM Humayun Kabir, Director General, National Identity Registration (NID) Division, presented the written report at a meeting on Saturday held in presence of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal.
It was informed at the event that at present 7 crore 10 lakh 83 thousand 758 smart cards have been printed. From there, 7 crore 9 lakh 78 have already been sent to the field level. A total of 5 crore 9 lakh 49 thousand 472 smart cards have been distributed among the voters.
In a written report, the director general said that according to the voter list law, ‘there is a provision to delete the names of persons who have died or who were ineligible at the time of inclusion’.
According to this provision, the names of 50 lakh 27 thousand 518 people have been removed from the voter list till March 24. However, the DG said that some living voters were shown dead for some technical fault while conducting the cutting activities.
Clerical error of data collector, error in data entry and in some cases intentional error are the reasons behind such an error. However, NID officials said it was difficult to say what the actual number of people who were listed as dead could be.
In order to correct this error, at the field level, such voters have to apply in person at the office of the Upazila or Thana Election Officer and Registration Officer.
Work is underway to reclaim the dead status of the voter as a resurrection if it matches the voter's fingerprint or through an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). This facility has been running at the field level since September last year. The service will be available only after visiting the office of the concerned Upazila or Thana Election Officer and Registration Officer.
