Voter List Update: Teachers to act as people’s representatives

Staff Reporter :

The Election Commission (EC) has started the voter list update programme where the teacher from school, college and madrasha are going to get the responsibility of people representatives’ signing power.

After the Awami League (AL) government fall on August 5, the people representatives (most of them were AL men) went on hide or left the area by making vacuum as they were entitled to sign on the EC’s voter registration form (Form-2).

EC has taken the decision in principle to give the liability of the teacher from school, college and madrasha of these respected areas to continue the activity of update voter list. EC will issue the letter over the matter within short time, said EC related sources.

EC source said in the activity of voter list update programme, there is a signature needed in the voter update list form (Form-2) which was responsibility of the people representatives’. Now EC is thinking this act will be done by the giving responsibility to the teachers’.

The EC wants the public representatives and responsible officers of the respective wards, as well as the head teachers of primary and secondary schools, madrasa superintendents, and college principals of the respective wards, to act as verifiers at the registration centers in the Union Parishad, City Corporation, Municipality, and Cantonment areas.

According to EC source the constitutional body has launched its door-to-door voter information collection campaign starting as part of updating the national voter list for 2025. The campaign targets citizens born on or before January 1, 2008.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin and four election commissioners inaugurated the program at Savar Upazila Parishad auditorium on Monday.

Following the data collection, the process of capturing photographs and completing voter registration will commence on February 5, continuing until April 11, said Senior Assistant Secretary of the EC Election Support Branch Md. Nasir Uddin Chowdhury.

This marks the seventh time the voter list will be updated since the introduction of a voter list with photographs in 2007-08. Past updates occurred during 2009-10, 2012-13, 2015-16, 2017-18, 2019-20, and 2022-23.

Required documents for voter registration: A copy of a 17-digit online birth certificate, a copy of a nationality or citizenship certificate, a photocopy of the NID of next of kin (parents, siblings, etc.), a copy of SSC/Dakhil/Equivalent, Class VIII pass certificate (if applicable), a copy of a utility bill (electricity, gas, water, or chowkidari receipt).

Key guidelines for accurate voter registration: Names, parents’ names, and birth details should match official documents, including birth certificates or educational certificates. The permanent address should reflect the voter’s actual permanent address. Dual or duplicate voter registration is strictly prohibited.

The EC also issued a notification warning that dual registration is a punishable offense under the law.

Cases of multiple voter entries can be easily identified through fingerprint tests, the notification added.

Earlier on January 2, the EC published the draft of the updated voter list revealing that 18, 33,352 have become new voters in the country.

Of the new voters, 11,85,516 are male voters, 6,47,774 are female voters and 62 voters are from the hijra community.

With the new voters, the number of voters in the country has now stood at 12,36,83,512. Of them, 6,33,30,103 male voters, 6,03,52,415 female voters, and 994 voters are from the third-gender or hijra community.