Voter ID Card
The Secretary of the Election Commission has made a very important announcement at a workshop of the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB). According to him the EC will supply identity cards to each of the roughly 57 million voters of the country by June this year. This is great news for the voters of the country and also for the political parties. The future of this important project lay in doubt so many times that people almost lost hope of getting the ID Cards at all. The plans for printing and supplying ID Cards were shelved for lack of funds and logistic support that were needed to launch and complete such a gigantic task successfully. We compliment the Election Commission for going ahead with the project despite impediments. But what we do not understand is the announcement of such a big news from a workshop as exclusive as that of the PIB. The EC secretary said there could be 14 uses of this card other than voting but did not elaborate. Basically we would request the EC to take the people into confidence by briefing the Press elaborately on the ID card project so that its implementation which depends on public cooperation can receive a fillip. They can make judicious use of the electronic media to this effect.
ID cards can be a real safeguard against spurious and false voting. It can also minimise the chances of 'polls rigging' - a complaint which is so commonly heard, whenever a candidate or a party loses an election. A big question can also be raised as to the distribution of so many cards in the next six months. Here also a clear announcement by the CEC will be highly appreciated.
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