Digitally linked new election infrastructures to cost Tk 4.65b

Setting up new election infrastructures is estimated to cost Tk 4.65 billion under an Election Commission scheme for constructing 46 new server stations and regional, district and upazila offices.

With national elections ahead for transition from the current post-uprising stand-in regime, the EC project aims to strengthen the electoral database and ensure regular update of the photo-based voter list.

Officials say the EC Secretariat has forwarded the project proposal, titled 'Construction of Upazila/Thana, District and Regional Election Officer's Office and Server Station for Election Database', to the Planning Commission.

Implementation is planned to begin this year.

According to the proposal, the facilities to be developed under the project will also function as storage hubs for ballot papers, voter- registration forms, ballot boxes, electronic voting machines and other materials required for parliamentary and local-government elections.

Under the plan, the EC will construct one regional election office, three district election offices, and 46 upazila-level offices with integrated server stations. In addition, space will be procured for 16 metropolitan Thana offices.

Planning Commission officials say the Programming Division of the commission recently hosted an inter-ministerial meeting on the proposal and decided to include the project with the list of unapproved projects list of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) of the current fiscal year.

Earlier in January this year, the EC Secretariat held a project-scrutiny meeting chaired by its Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed to review the scheme, initially estimated to cost over Tk 4.97 billion.

The committee recommended bringing down the cost to a more justified level, leading to a Tk 320-million cut in the proposed budget.

The project is a continuation of the EC's efforts to modernize and expand its infrastructure, sEC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told the FE writer.

"While every upazila currently has a server, some lack proper office buildings," he said, adding that the proposed project will address those gaps.

The EC Secretariat has stated in its letter to the Planning Commission that the infrastructure would accelerate field-level services, particularly voter registration and national ID-card issuance, while also improving preparations for both parliamentary and local-government elections.

In an earlier project -- Construction of Upazila and Regional Server Stations for Electoral Database -- the EC initiated the construction of server stations across the country, said EC officials.

However, they said, due to land-acquisition complexities and the creation of new upazilas, 66 planned buildings could not be completed.

Officials note that many Upazila and Thana offices are still operating out of temporary or inadequate premises, making it difficult to manage voter registration and ID services efficiently. Once constructed, the new buildings will help decentralize services, reduce bottlenecks, and ensure smooth data management at the grassroots level.

According to the Development Project Proposal (DPP), the largest portion -- more than Tk 2.40 billion, or about 51 per cent -- has been allocated for setting up 16 metropolitan thana offices, each covering about 1,600 square feet.

Another Tk 1.36 billion, or 21 per cent of the total cost, has been earmarked for constructing 46 upazila election offices with server stations, in addition to offices for upazila election officers.

Election officials argue that the project is crucial to ensuring transparency and efficiency in Bangladesh's electoral system.

Since the introduction of a photo-based voter list and national identity card before the 2008 parliamentary elections, the electoral database has become a cornerstone of transparent governance.

It has helped reduce fraudulent voting and has evolved into a reliable citizen-information repository.

The DPP reveals that the project will strengthen the EC's logistical capacity ahead of future national and local-government elections.

By improving storage, registration, and voter-database-management systems, the commission expects to deliver faster, more reliable services to citizens.

jahid.rn@gmail.com