One lakh Rohingya refugees on draft voter list!

This correspondent talked to officials of the district administration, Election Commission and refugee repatriation commission about the allegation. They gave to understand that 'a large number' of Rohingya refugees have been enrolled in the draft voter list. EC officials said they are checking the lists and have, by now, dropped names of many refugees.

District Additional Election Officer S M Shahadat Hosain admitted that many refugees could be included as voters. Names of around 20,000 Rohingyas have been dropped and scrutiny is going on, he said.

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Md. Shoaibur Rahman, Joint Secretary of Relief and Refugee Repatriation Commission did not rule out the possibility of about one lakh refugees having been included in the draft voter list.

"There are at least 3,00,000 Rohingyas living illegally in deferent areas of Cox's Bazar district. I believe that about one lakh of them have been recorded in the draft voter list", he told this correspondent on Saturday.

District administration officials said, they prepared a list of 50,525 Rohingya refugees in July last year. The actual number would be much more as the refugees mix with the local people. Many more Rohingyas might have crossed the border in one year. It is difficult to identify them. It is likely that they have been included in the voter list at the behest of local political leaders, they said.

Tekhnaf Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mohammed Mohsin Chowdhury said Teknaf and Ukhiya upazilas are more vulnerable in this regard as these are close to Myanmar border.

Mohsin said a 10-member committee headed by land administration official Kazi Mohammed Hassan has been formed to find out names of Rohingyas in the draft voter list.

Sources claimed that at least 70,000 Rohingya refugees have been included in Teknaf, Ukhiya and Ramu upazilas. The number of fake female voters is more than that of males, they said.

In Chakoriya, Moheshkhali and Cox's Bazar Sadar, the number of Rohingya refugees in the draft voter list would be more than 13,000, they claimed. Investigation by this correspondent showed that the number of voters increased significantly in the constituency of a state minister hailing from the area.

District Awami League General Secretary Shalauddin Ahamed CIP alleged that over 50,000 supporters of his party were not included in the draft voter list.

Zafar Alam, Chairman of Chakoriya municipality and Abdur Rahaman Bodi, Chairman of Teknaf municipality alleged that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders influenced enumerators to enroll a large number of Rohingyas.

Teknaf upazila BNP president Mostaque Ahmed Chowdury said a small number Rohingyas could be enrolled in the voter list. The number would not be so big as claimed by opposition leaders, he said.

Moheshkhali upazila Awami League president Anwar Pasha alleged that that a large number of Rohingyas were listed and that about 20,000 Awami League supporters were dropped from the draft voter list.

He also named a few Rohingyas enrolled in the voter list as Noor Mohammed (voter no. 0347), Ali Ullah, (no. 0348), Ziaur Rahman (no. 0349), Nurul Amin (no. 0350), Mohammed Taher (no. 0351), Mohammed Idris (no. 0352) and Shajeda Begum (no. 0337). He said he has lodged a complaint with the local election officer.

Talking to this correspondent, Asrafa Yusuf, wife of Mohamed Yusuf in Ukhiya, alleged that none of her family members was listed in the voter list though they filled in registration forms.

Rafiqul Islam, general secretary of Ukiya Press Club, also said none of his family members was listed in the voter list.

Helenaz Tahera, commissioner of Cox's Bazar Pourshabha said she collected voter registration forms yesterday, as many of his relatives were not enlisted in the voter list.

District Additional Election Officer SM Shahadat Hosain said 1,79,880 new voters were enlisted in Cox's Bazar district this time, raising the total to 12,08,279 against 10,28,399 in the list prepared in 2001.