Most Read

Voter ID card and database

21 January 2006, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Mainul Huda Quadery, West Bakalia, Chittagong
21 January 2006, 18:00 PM
There are a lot of discussions going on about free and fair election. Some parties want changes in the caretaker government system; some parties want a strong Election Commission. But I think the need of the hour is to hold a free and fair election and to ensure introduction of voter identity card with colour photograph and a computerised voter database. Now I am going to show some reasons in favour of my proposal.

Firstly, it will help to prevent fake votes because of colour photo and the information on the database. The voter database I proposed will be very easy to update. For example when people move from one place to another or when anybody dies the database can be easily updated.

Secondly, we can use this card as a national ID card. Anybody can use this to prove his or her identity for any purpose.

Google News LinkFor all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.

Thirdly, the voter database will help the government in planning. For this purpose, I propose to extend this database where all the population will be included. Then it will help the government in planning. For example, the decision makers can work out how many hospitals are needed in a particular area. The same is true about schools and colleges. The police can use this database to curb crime.

So these database and ID card can be used for many purposes. It might take a lot of time and money to implement the plan. But the plan, once implemented, will pay rich dividends.