Draft voter list

If the one of 2000 was flawed, this one is doubly flawed, says the critics and analysts. The total number of voters registered this time is about 9 crore 13 lakh which is 1 crore 65 lakh higher than the one prepared in the year 2000, thereby showing a growth of voters by 4.8 per cent. This is, according to country's statistical experts, absurd. A 4.8 per cent growth of voters against a population growth rate of 1.58, registering 63 per cent of our total population as voter and still a large number of voters (some estimates suggest 50 lakh) including some sitting MPs of the opposition bench missing from the list, is a riddle probably nobody can solve.

The CEC went for this new voter list at a cost of Tk. 160 crore, defying the directives of the High Court and ignoring the opinion of his two colleagues.

Immediately after assumption of his office as CEC he called for a dialogue with the political parties to discuss about preparation of a new voter list. When the main opposition parties did not subscribe to his ideas and refused to participate in the dialogue, he invited some 100 political parties many of whose names were never heard of by the public and some even could not tell their official address. When asked by the media, what was the use of this dialogue when the main opposition party the Awami League was not attending it, he sarcastically told them that it did not matter if a party with only 56 seats in the parliament did not participate in the dialogue.

So, what service can he render to the nation?