Staff Reporter:
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin is set to leave for Canada on Thursday night on a 14-day visit to inaugurate voter registration and National Identity Card (NID) issuance programmes for Bangladeshi expatriates living in the country.
The CEC will attend the programmes in Toronto and Ottawa from 5 to 12 September, said his Private Secretary Mohammad Ashraful Alam.
He will also join a number of views-exchange meetings with expatriate Bangladeshi citizens in both cities. These meetings will elaborate on the registration process for expatriate voters, data verification procedures, and the methods by which expatriates can cast their votes in the forthcoming national parliamentary elections.
The visit also aims to raise awareness of voting rights among expatriates and to ensure their active participation.
The CEC will engage directly with Bangladeshi expatriates and provide insights into the ongoing activities and future plans of the Election Commission.
After completing his official engagements, the CEC will stay in Vancouver from 13 to 15 September for personal reasons, the private secretary added. He is likely to return home on 18 September.
Lalmonirhat District Election Officer Md Lutful Kabir Sarker is expected to accompany the CEC during the visit.
At present, the Election Commission is conducting voter registration activities through embassies at 17 stations in 10 countries: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, and Canada.
The commission has so far received around 50,000 applications from these countries.
