The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The voter list with photographs in the Dhaka City Corporation areas will be finalized today while its printed copies will be published by September 10, in the run-up to the important DCC polls.

Shortly after the publication of the printed voter list, the Election Commission will announce the schedule for Dhaka City Corporation elections, Deputy Election Commissioner for Dhaka Division Biswas Lutfor Rahman disclosed yesterday.

"The DCC voter list will be finalized before announcing the election schedule," he told reporters replying to questions at Dhaka city election office.

The DEC said 35,26,004 voters are registered in the final voter list, down from 36,36,196 found on the voter list made before the slated January 22, 2007 general election that was cancelled amid a grave political crisis over election issues.

He said the voter list for the DCC areas are being finalized today following the past announcement and the

printed list would be found within a week in four registration offices in the city.

Replying to a question, he said the voter inclusion in the registration process would formally end tomorrow in the DCC domain. But simple mistakes on the final voter list would be manually corrected by the authorities concerned.

"If there are any clerical mistakes after publishing the final voter list, these will be manually corrected," he said.

He said the voters need not necessarily take the national identity card for casting their vote, but the voters and their voting centers could be easily identified by using their Id numbers if available with them.

About corrective measures, Lutfor Rahman said the Election Commission launched a three-day crash programme on August 26, involving 188 assistant registration officers, to sweep out all blunders from the DCC voter list.

"We've made hundred-percent scrutiny during the rechecks on the voter list," he said, underlining the interim regime's pledge to present a flawless voter list against the backdrop of the past crisis.