November 4, 2022
DHAKA – The Election Commission is mulling stringent punishment for making false declarations for getting enrolled to the voter list.
It also proposed tougher punishment for registration officers for neglecting duties. In all cases, the commission has doubled the period of jail terms and four to 10 folds more amount of fines.
The commission prepared a proposal for amendment of the voter list law 2009 with tougher provisions. The amendment proposal was placed before an Election Commission meeting yesterday.
EC officials said changes will help smooth voter enlistment works and people of the country will be more careful about making a declaration regarding different information as the punishment was doubled.
Besides, there was an inconsistency between the voter list law 2009 and the National Identification Registration law 2010, regarding false declarations.
“We have in principle decided to bring the amendment of the voter list law. It will be sent to the law ministry,” Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman told The Daily Star.
According to existing voter list law, if any person makes any false declaration in connection with the preparation, revision or correction of an electoral roll, or having names in the list or deducting names from it, shall be punishable with imprisonment for six months or with fine of Tk 2000 or with both.
New amendment proposed for imprisonment one year or with a fine of Tk 20,000 or both, for making a false declaration.
National Identification Registration law 2010 also proposed imprisonment for one year or with a fine of Tk 20,000 or with both, for making a false declaration, showing the commission meeting working paper obtained by this newspaper.
The amendment proposed imprisonment for two years or a fine of Tk 20,000 or both if anyone creates an obstacle to the process of the preparation, revision or correction of an electoral roll. Existing laws have a provision of one-year imprisonment or a fine of Tk 5,000 or both for the same reason.
The EC proposed one-year imprisonment or a fine of Tk 20,000 or both in case of negligence in performing duties, in connection with the preparation, revision or correction of the electoral roll. Existing laws have a provision of six-month imprisonment or a fine of Tk 2,000 or both in case of negligence in performing duties.
EC prepares and updates the voter list for each electoral area or constituency, to hold elections. With some exceptions, EC enumerators collect data with a door-to-door campaign. They also collect data on dead voters to deduct them from the voter list.
According to the law, EC has to publish the final voter list by March 2.