Rakibul Hasan, Puthia (Rajshahi)

Voting is like a festival in Bangladesh and becoming a new voter is even more joyful. Standing in line for hours to take photos seems to be a never-ending joy. Many people return home tired. Some are standing without eating lunch. People standing in line do not know when the photos will end.

On Saturday (February 8), new and dropped voters came to the Jhalmalia High School grounds in Jiupara Union of Puthia Upazila of Rajshahi district to have their fingerprints, irises and photos taken. The slow pace of the work related to the Election Commission and the very inadequate equipment compared to the number of people who came to take photos turned the joy they had for taking photos into a sad state. Many people came at 7 am and waited for 5-7 hours with serials, but many people were unable to take photos. Suppressed anger was observed among them.

On the other hand, there was no separate arrangement for taking pictures of the sick, disabled and pregnant women. Many people were angry at the journalists for doing this. There was no orderly environment for a few hours from the morning. It is not known whether the new voters or the Election Commission officials will be able to complete the work of taking pictures throughout the day. Although work was started with a total of five laptops at Jhalmalia High School, two of them were turned off in the middle. This made the suffering even more extreme.

When asked about the suffering and new voters, Upazila Election Officer Sushmita Roy said, we are working with everything we have. There is a little suffering. I feel very happy to see the enthusiasm of the new voters. We are trying to reduce the suffering of the people. About 8,088 (potential) new and excluded people have registered. The Upazila administration is constantly taking care of them.

When contacted over phone to inquire about this, Senior Rajshahi District Election Officer Md. Motawakkil Rahman said, "I am aware of the matter. I will send my delegation here. I will try to reduce the suffering. We are trying with the equipment we have. However, it would have been better if there were more equipment."