Staff Reporter :
More than 15 million smart national identity (NID) cards remain undistributed throughout the country now, according to statistics provided by the Election Commission Secretariat.
The Election Commission has so far prepared some 81 million smart NID cards against nearly 122 million voters in the country.
So far, 65,744,983 smart NID cards have been distributed, while 15,176,147 others remain undistributed, as per the information given by EC public relations officer Shariful Islam on Wednesday.
The undistracted smart NID cards are 18.75 percent of 80,921,130 smart cards the EC so far prepared.
The highest 3,889,924 undistributed smart cards are in Dhaka region, while 1,999,655 cards in Cumilla region, 1,480,675 cards in Mymensingh region, 1,460,999 in Khulna, 1,441,401cards in Chattogram region, 1,214,649 in Sylhet region, 1,155,757 in Rajshahi region, 1,030,735 in Rangpur region, 851,260 cards in Barishal region and 651,092 in Faridpur region.
The smart NID cards include all ten fingerprints in addition to other biometric and identity information. On 12 June 2023, the Home Ministry of Bangladesh gained authority to issue NID cards and the Election Commission lost its authority under the law of National Identity Registration Act, 2023.
Earlier, The National Identity Registration Bill, 2023, passed in Jatiya Sangsad to transfer the national identity registration operation from the Election Commission to the Security Services Division of the home ministry.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan moved the bill which was unanimously passed by voice votes in the House with Deputy Speaker Shamsul Huq Tuku in the chair.
As per the bill, the NID registration operation will be under the Security Services Division of the home ministry.
Immediately after the birth, every national shall have the right to get a birth certificate or a unique number, which will remain unchangeable.
The Election Commission will prepare the voter list for nationals aged above 18 years.