Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
Bangladesh’s Election Commission (EC) will now allow citizens aged 16 or above to register for a National Identity (NID) card, EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said on Tuesday.
“Those who are 16 years old can now register. This will allow us to keep some advanced information. They will receive an NID,” he told reporters at EC headquarters. Once these individuals turn 18, they will be automatically added to the voter list.
Explaining the need, Ahmed said: “They need an NID for many purposes, such as students going abroad for studies, opening bank accounts, travelling abroad for medical treatment, and various other minor tasks.”
Currently, only citizens 18 and older are registered as voters and issued advanced or smart NIDs.
Student Union polls to be model for Bangladesh national election: Home adviser
Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
Bangladesh’s home adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said on Tuesday that the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election and other student polls will serve as a model for the upcoming national election.
“An election is being held after many years. So far, no complaints have been raised regarding the DUCSU election. The election is going well,” he told reporters after a Law and Order Advisory Council Committee meeting at the Home Ministry. He noted that training of law enforcement personnel and funding talks with the Finance Ministry were already under way.
While cautioning that student polls “will not fully mirror” the national election, he said: “Those voting in DUCSU are 100 per cent educated… presiding and polling officers are highly educated. That will not be the case in the national election. Still, the student election will serve as a model.” He also warned of increased drug inflows from Myanmar, blaming the Arakan Army for “freely selling drugs into Bangladesh.”
Cultural affairs adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki hailed the vote on Facebook, saying Bangladesh had boarded the “election train” and that “after this will come the train of the national election.”
Tragedy struck the DUCSU polls when online-based Channel S reporter Tarikul Shibli, 40, collapsed while broadcasting live at Curzon Hall and was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Doctors suspected cardiac arrest as the cause of death.
Meanwhile, police arrested ex-secretary Bhuiyan Mohammad Shafiqul Islam and six Awami League activists in Dhaka in the past 24 hours, the Detective Branch confirmed. On Monday, another former secretary, Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan, was arrested under the anti-terrorism act and sent to jail.