The Election Commission (EC) has suspended Jagannathpur Upazila Election Officer Mujibur Rahman and Data Entry Operator Jubayer for their involvement in a voter registration fraud scheme linked to financial transactions.  

National Identity Registration Division Director General ASM Humayun Kabir announced the suspensions at a press conference on Wednesday, stating that an investigation by the NID Wing in Dhaka had uncovered corruption in the voter registration process. A departmental case has been filed against the two officials, and legal action is underway to have them arrested and presented before the court.  

The investigation revealed an attempt to fraudulently register 106 Bangladeshi citizens currently living abroad as voters. To bypass biometric verification, the perpetrators collected fingerprints from local individuals and used them to create fake voter registrations.  

“I fail to understand why individuals attempt to register as voters in this manner. Even if they obtain an NID, they will be unable to use it for any services since it is based on someone else’s biometric data,” said Humayun Kabir.  

Reports indicate that up to Tk 1 lakh was taken from each applicant for the fraudulent registrations.  

Meanwhile, the nationwide voter list update process, which began on 20 January, is ongoing. Enumerators are conducting household visits to collect data, with the process scheduled to continue until 3 February. As of last Monday, data for 1,707,570 individuals had been collected, confirming that field visits are actively progressing.