SANGSAD BHABAN, Jan 26, 2020 (BSS) – The Voter List (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was passed today in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) in an amended form by the parliamentary standing committee aiming at extending the timeframe for updating the voter list.
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq moved the bill in the House which
was unanimously passed by voice votes with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
Earlier, three opposition lawmakers — Rowshan Ara Mannan of Jatiya Party and Rumeen
Farhana and Md Harunur Rashid of Bangladesh Nationalist Party—opposed the passing of the
bill and asked for sending it to seek public opinion on the bill while it was rejected by voice
votes.
According to the bill, the amendment has been made to the existing ‘Voter List Act, 2009’ to
increase the timeframe of updating the voter list as it is difficult to update the voter list within
the existing 29 days from January 2 to January 31.
As the Cabinet Division decided to observe March 2 as the National Voters’ Day, it has been
proposed in the bill that the timeframe for updating the voter list from ‘January 2 to January 31’
will be replaced by the timeframe from ‘January 2 to March 2’.
The parliamentary standing committee report on the Voter List (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was
placed in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) on January 23.