EC wants to provide smart NIDs to UK, Saudi expatriates

Following successful roll-outs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Election Commission (EC) now plans to provide smart national identity (NID) cards to Bangladeshi expatriate voters living in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.

Election Commission Secretary Jahangir Alam conveyed the decision at a press briefing on Monday following an Election Commission meeting.

The secretary said that the meeting, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, discussed the progress of the pilot project currently underway for Bangladeshi expatriates in the UAE.

Following this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed the initiation of similar projects in both the UK and Saudi Arabia, he said.

Expressing hopes to deliver the NID services to Bangladeshi expatriates in the UK and Saudi Arabia before the national parliamentary elections, Jahangir Alam said: "We have begun this initiative. We cannot specify a timeline until our teams visit the two countries. However, we hope to accomplish this before the national elections."

The Election Commission started giving smart national identity (NID) cards to Bangladeshi expatriate voters living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on July 10.

The government has plans to introduce the services in 15 countries where Bangladeshi expatriates are living.

Some 15 years ago, demands were made for granting voting rights and issuing National ID (NID) cards to Bangladeshi expatriates residing in various countries.

The then Election Commission under KM Nurul Huda started the online registration process in Malaysia in November 2019 after overcoming various complications regarding the voter registration of expatriate Bangladeshis.

The initiative was then put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The current commission led by Kazi Habibul Awal once again took the initiative to speed up the work.

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