Anomaly in voter enrolment in districts

Allegations have it that at places, supporters of opposition parties and minority community people were left out deliberately, according to reports by our correspondents.

Our Kushtia Correspondent reports: Sumon Sen Gupta of Courtpara area in Kushtia town said two enumerators -- Emdadul Haq and Shamsur Rahman -- went to his rented flat yesterday.

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They enrolled names of Muslim voters residing in the building and ignored six eligible voters of his family even after his repeated request, Sumon alleged.

Emdadul Haq and Shamsur Rahman, both teachers at Kushtia Muslim High School tried to leave the place hurriedly after enrolling the Muslim voters.

Sumon then informed some local journalists. When the journalists rushed there and asked the enumerators about the matter, they said it was a 'mistake' and then enrolled the six members of Sumon's family in the voter list.

Sources said both the enumerators belonged to ruling Jamaat-e-Islami.

Our Nilphamari Correspondent reports: Enrolment of voters continued in a haphazard manner in Nilphamari town yesterday as most of the eligible voters did not know that preparation of a fresh list began three days ago.

The authorities concerned claimed that 70 per cent work has been completed at field level though the enrolment process drew a lacklustre response from eligible voters due to lack of publicity and awareness.

Leaders of opposition political parties alleged that ruling party men have been appointment as supervisors and data collectors. BNP -Jamaat supporter and madrasa teachers were given preference in the recruitment, they alleged.

They also alleged that supporters of opposition parties and minority community people were being deliberately felt out of lists.

It was gathered that Kamruzzaman, a Jamaat-e-Islami activist in jaldhaka upazila, is preparing the voter list in Khutamara union in the upazila. He is a former president of Jaldhaka unit of Isami Chhatra Shibir.

On the other hand, the work is also being hampered due to shortage of funds and inadequate logistics. It was gathered that the Election Commission (EC) has not yet allotted the required fund for the work in the district though it has directed the officials to complete the enrollment in time.

The EC has allotted only Tk eight lakh for buying needles, thread, papers and pens etc. The enrollment work is being hindered as stamp pads were not supplied for taking thump impression of voters. Loose prescribed forms were supplied instead of books, a number of data collectors said. The loose forms might be missing, they said.

The District Election Office has supplied enrollment forms as per the lists prepared in 2000, on which there were 9, 31, 899 voters in the district. The number of voters now will be around 20 per cent more, sources said.

Day labourer Akhtarul Islam of Sindoi village in Sadar upazila and farmer Mansoor Ali of Master Para village under Kishoreganj upazila of the district told this correspondent yesterday that no data collector went to their homes to enroll them and his family members in the voter list.

Sources at the District Election Office said 74 assistant registration officers, 724 supervisors and 2677 data collectors were appointed in the district. But when contacted, the Upazila Election Office could not show the list of appointed supervisors and data collectors for Nilphamari municipal area.

When contacted, Sadar Upazila Election Officer M Rahman refuted all the allegations and said, "Everything is being performed properly as per directive of the Election Commission".

Our Barisal Correspondent Reports: Leaders of opposition parties have raised objections to preparation of the new voters list, alleging that ruling party supporters are involved in the enrollment.

Barisal city Awami League Convener Shawkat Hossain Hiron alleged that BNP activists and supporters were engaged in voter lists preparation in many areas of the city.

In ward no. 2 in Kawnia under Barisal City Corporation, local BNP president Anisur Rahman Hiru and vice-president Khairul Alam were engaged in the work, which was delayed for two days as they went to Kuakata on a New Year picnic, local people said.

When contacted, Barisal District Election Officer Majibur Rahman said that as in other areas, Anisur Rahman Hiru and Khairul Alam were engaged in the work as they were teachers at local Kawnia Girls School and Manik Mia Schools. The EC office did not know that they were BNP leaders, he said.

Barisal district unit of FEMA, an election monitoring NGO, said their observers reported irregularities in voter enrollment in Charmonai union and Barisal Sadar upazila. Non-resident people and were included in the lists, its officials said.

Reports from Gournadi and Agailjhara upazilas, said Awami League activists assaulted data collectors and detained them for two hours for irregularities in enrollment.

Shahnaz Parvin, 22, accompanied by Kawsar, a BNP activists started enrolling voters in ward no. 3 in Gournadi municipality Monday morning.

Local AL activists led by Sajal Kazi, Razzak Talukdar, Milan Howladar challenged and detained them for about two hours for alleged anomaly.

Local officials rescued them and later resumed the work.

Deputy Assistant Registration Officer Khan Shamsul Huq, Supervisor S M Arif, and Gournadi UNO Mahfuzul Huq admitted the incident and said Shahnaz was working in place of her brother Rafiqul Islam.

Shahnaz claimed that she was an employee of a local NOG, VOSD. But its local manager Sajedur Rahman, when contacted, said they have female employee named Shahnaz.