Officials and employees of the Election Commission have decided to postpone their previously announced ‘operational halt’ programme, which was scheduled for Wednesday.
The programme had been announced as part of their demand for keeping the National Identity service under the Election Commission’s authority as the interim government moved forward with plans to transfer the service to an independent institution, removing it from the jurisdiction of the EC.
‘We have suspended the operational halt programme, considering the need to ensure that the forthcoming election process is not disrupted, as well as the overall services for the general public, including expatriates and in light of assurances from the high levels of the government,’ said Mohammad Monir Hossain, convener of the Bangladesh Election Commission Officers Association, during a press conference at Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon on Tuesday.
He said that the EC had already sent a letter to the government, expressing its disagreement with the plan to transfer the NID service from the EC’s jurisdiction.
‘The EC senior secretary informed us that the commission had been engaged with high-level government officials on the issue and had received the assurance that the NID service would remain under the EC,’ Monir said.
During the press conference, the Electoral Training Institute director general SM Asaduzzaman warned that if the process of fulfilling the EC employees’ demands was delayed, a ‘complete shutdown’ programme would be announced in the future.Â
Recently, the interim government has approved the draft National Identity Registration Act (Repeal) Ordinance 2025 in principle and initiated the formation of a separate commission namely Civil Registration Commission to transfer responsibility for national identity registration and the issuance of national identity cards from the EC.
Following the government’s move, chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on March 4 told reporters that the NID service should remain under the control of the Election Commission, or else the commission’s work would be hampered.
The CEC said that the Election Commission would send a written recommendation to the government on this matter.
Earlier, the Awami League government had taken an initiative to bring the NID service under the Ministry of Home Affairs separating from EC and enacted the National Identity Registration Act in 2023.
After the ousting of the Awami League government through a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024, the act was repealed.