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The Election Commission (EC) has taken a major step towards ensuring voting rights for Bangladeshis living abroad by forming a special ad hoc wing to oversee the country’s expatriate voting system.
The decision was implemented through an official order issued by the Election Commission Secretariat on Thursday, with the new wing tasked with managing, maintaining and completing the administrative processes related to the “Overseas Voting System Development and Implementation (OCV-SDI)” project.
The 16-member unit, named the “Temporary Non-Physical Presence Voting Branch,” will formally take over all documents, technical systems and other responsibilities of the OCV-SDI project. It will subsequently be responsible for operating and maintaining the system.
The move is expected to strengthen the long-term institutional and technical oversight of the infrastructure being developed to facilitate voting by Bangladeshis residing overseas.
The officials assigned to the wing include Deputy Secretary of the Election Operations-2 Sub-Division Mohammad Monir Hossain; System Analyst of the Data Management Sub-Division Engineer Mohammad Ariful Islam; NID System Analyst Mamunur Hossain; and System Analyst of the Information Systems Management Sub-Division Md Mizanur Rahman Khan.
Other members include Senior Assistant Secretary of the Election Management and Coordination-1 Branch Md Shahidul Islam, Senior Assistant Secretary of the Election Support-1 Branch Mohammad Delwar Hossain, NIPLI Deputy Director (Local) Mohammad Jahangir Alam and Deputy Director (International) Md Takdir Ahmed.
The wing also includes GIS Branch Programmer Md Sirajul Islam, NID Programmer Sifat Jahan, Maintenance Engineer Mohammad Sohag, Data Processing Branch Programmer Md Abul Khayer Rony and NID Programmer Md Selim Ul Alam.
Other members are NIE Programmer (ICT) Azimul Islam, Assistant Chief of the Research and Publication Branch K M Ariful Islam, and NID Assistant Maintenance Engineer (ICT Operations) Md Naim Islam.
The officials have been assigned to the new wing under instructions from the Establishment Sub-Division of the EC Secretariat.
The EC expects the new structure to provide a stronger technical and institutional foundation for implementing and maintaining the overseas voting system, a key initiative aimed at enabling Bangladeshi expatriates to exercise their voting rights.