2024-07-30 18:16:41
The Election Commission (EC) has issued a set of instructions to officials to prevent National Identity Card (NID) fraud. Citizens will not get NID service especially if all information of parents is not matching.
The organization took this decision after the news published in various media titled ‘Taka 30 Crore Bank Loan in Fake NID, 4 Fraudsters Arrested’ came to attention.
On Monday (July 29) NID Branch Director (Registration and Expatriate) Md. The constitutional institution has already sent the directive of Abdul Momin government to all district and upazila election officials.
It has been said that in view of the news published in various media on April 6, a four-member investigation committee was formed. The committee’s recommendations were approved by the commission headed by Kazi Habibul Awal.
The recommendations made by the Inquiry Committee are-
(a) Upazila/ Thana Election Officer shall use monthly registration register while registering new voters.
(b) among the documents required by the voter present at the concerned election office for registration, which can be verified online such as birth certificate, education certificate, NID of parents and spouse etc. (to apply to be a voter) can be checked to see if it matches the information; Checking whether the address mentioned in the registration form matches the address of the parent’s NID and birth certificate;
(c) to see whether the person’s appearance/physical appearance matches the age specified in the registration form;
(d) if found to be correct after verification, writing CHECKED & VERIFIED on the registration form and related documents and issuing the signature and seal of the person who verified; Then by ticking the serial number according to the register, at the same time registration form-2 has signature of relevant identifier, verifier, NID number of data entry operator, seal (if applicable) and signature (with date) of upazila/ police station election officer only. / will give the seal. If facsimile is used, there is risk of illegal registration. However, the use of facsimiles becomes necessary due to the large number of registrations during the update process. But the officer himself must sign/seal the office. According to the registrar, if the upazila/ police station election officer and the registration officer consider the voter/incomplete application/cancelled after interviewing the concerned voter, such decision should be recorded in the register;
(e) Uploading to NID server is done from Upazila/Thana Election Officer’s own account. In this case, the officer must complete the activity in person. If the help of data entry operator is to be taken alone, he/she will perform the operation keeping a watchful eye on the server at all times. Be sure to log out after uploading;
(f) On the day uploading is done, reports should be generated after uploading and these should be stored on monthly basis in PDF and hard copy form in the office file at the officer’s own responsibility;
(g) Besides, arrangements should be made for collection of the said report (including numerical data input into the system and report attestation) centrally on fortnightly/monthly basis. The said reports should be shown during the office visit by the controlling authority of the subordinate offices;
Under the guidance of all Upazila/Thana Election Officers and Registration Officers to take necessary measures to conduct the voter registration process with greater caution and to strengthen monitoring for conducting the registration process in accordance with the rules and smoothly in the monthly coordination meeting of Regional Election Office and District Election Office and Regional Election Officer/Senior District/ The District Election Officer has been asked to conduct occasional jhatika raids to observe the activities of field operators.
When asked whether the suffering of the citizens will increase as a result of such instructions, EC Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath said, now the citizens will not have to face any suffering to vote. We have taken steps so that citizens can vote without suffering.
He said fraudsters are using some minor loopholes in the technology used to register national identity cards. While the technology is there, there is also something missing in the technology. In order to avoid technical misses, instructions are given to get good biometrics at the time of registration. Protection is being offered yet some fraudsters are misusing technology to commit fraud.