Decision to transfer NID project to Ministry of Home Affairs: A new conspiracy to loot people’s voting rights

Concise English version of the key-note paper presented at the virtual seminar organized by BNRC on 28 June, 2021 at 4pm.

You know when it is pertinent to pay deeper attention to health care, economic and employment security in the midst of grave covid situation, the Awami League government is hatching a new conspiracy. As part of this conspiracy, the government has decided to transfer the National Identity Card Project to the Ministry of Home Affairs from the Election Commission. A written executive order has already been sent to the Home Ministry and the secretary to the EC with a view to implementing the transfer decision. After receiving the letter, the Chief Election Commissioner disclosed to the reporters that the Election Commission did not know anything in advance about the matter and no prior discussions in this regard were held with the Commission. Election Commissioner Mahboob Talukder commented that the transfer of NID from the EC would be like fixing the last spike in the coffin of the Election Commission. Eminent figures including SUJAN have already expressed deep concern over the government’s unilateral decision, saying it would undermine the independence of the Election Commission. Major political parties including the BNP have strongly condemned and protested the decision and demanded its cancellation. On the other hand, the Liberation War Affairs Minister of the government said that the responsibility of the Election Commission is to prepare the voter list and it has no capacity to produce national identity card. The Minister deliberately avoided that the voter list and national identity card in Bangladesh is tied in the same thread and thus handing over operation of NID to the Home Ministry means handing over to the Home Ministry the right to prepare and updating of voter list and its maintenance as well, which is utterly unconstitutional. Most importantly, the issue of compiling voter list is the exclusive constitutional jurisdiction of the Election Commission and its transfer elsewhere is sheer unconstitutional. The Minister informed that not only a decision has been taken in this regard, but the way work has also started in the meantime on the instructions of the Prime Minister herself. Such arbitrariness is only possible on the part of a government without accountability to the people.

While country’s people are in a state of uncertainty due to the horrors of corona and important political parties including BNP are busy in humanitarian activities asking the government to take all possible measures for livelihood and health care of the people, the government chose to avail the opportunity to hand over the NID program to the Home Ministry instead of the Election Commission as part of further continuing the de facto occupation of state power and violating peoples’ right to vote.

Article 118 (4) of the constitution of Bangladesh clearly states that the Election Commission shall remain independent during discharging its duties and “shall be subject only to this constitution and this Act”. The government cannot take decision to transfer the existing infrastructure and manpower for the preparation of voter list database leaving the election commission, an independent body established by the constitution in dark. It’s a clear blow to the constitution by the executive branch. The decision to transfer the national identity registration process to the Home Ministry instead of the Election Commission will create a grave crisis for the people in future. Many experts opine that the target of doing it, on one hand, is to continue fascism by looting peoples’ vote in future in a new strategy and, on the other hand, to turn the country into an absolute police state by seizing the personal information of the citizens.

Violating constitution is so trivial to this government that it did not even hesitate to expel the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the guardian of the country’s constitution. Using the independent election commission as mere an institution under the executive branch, the government in 2018 has taken away the voting rights of people at dead of night.

Voter list transfer unconstitutional: A legal review

As per constitution of Bangladesh, the election commission is entrusted with the responsibility of preparing voter list, supervising the preparation, giving instruction regarding the voter list and regulating the voter list. Voter list and national identity cards are integral and integrated. So, the NID project will also be supervised only by the election commission.

The letter the cabinet department wrote to the election commission goes in sharp contrast to the constitution. The letter states that the National Identity Registration Act 2010 be amended by just substituting in the Act the word “Election Commission” with the word “Ministry of Home Affairs.  Article 119(1) of the constitution states that the EC shall be entrusted with the responsibility of supervising, directing and controlling the preparation of voter lists for the presidential and parliamentary elections and conducting similar elections. Therefore, any project involving voter list has no chance to be conducted under any authority other than the election commission. Basic duties of the election commission in accordance with article 119(1) of the Constitution are:

1. Shall hold election for the post of president
2. Shall hold election of MP’s
3. Shall demarcate border of constituency for parliament election
4. Shall prepare voter list for the election of president and parliament.

According to article 119(2) except voter list and particular election works, Election Commission can ‍also carry on other works, as prescribed by the constitution or assigned to it by any other law in addition to the responsibilities. At present, apart from carrying out its principal responsibilities as stipulated in 119(1) of the constitution, the Election Commission is holding Local Government Elections and preparing National Identity Cards as per Article 119(2) of the constitution.

Background of digital voter list and NID Card:

You all know how a maligned propaganda over the creation of false voter list was steered in 2007. Election Commission was slandered at that time for base political interests which later became apparent with the change of political course.

However, the Election Commission later in 2007-8 through DFID and UNDP support unilaterally took up a 3 year term plan for preparing digital voter list. As a part of this program, a pilot project of preparing voter list and issuing ID card started at Sreepur in Gazipur with the cooperation of the army. Later the National Identity Registration Act was passed initially as an Ordinance, and later as an Act in parliament in 2010. At present all over Bangladesh voter list is prepared and maintained by the EC at its upazila Election Commission’s office by using voter data base and National ID Cards are also issued simultaneously by using the same voter data base at the same server stations (presently 594).

Why the decision of shifting NID process to Home Ministry is unacceptable:

1. Voter lists and voting are closely linked with the National ID Card in Bangladesh. Because the creation of National ID Card was the by-product of the voter list. That means, the conversion of voter identity into national identity card was possible as the voter identity card was derived from voter list data base. In this context, if the government directed transfer process is implemented, the creation, maintenance and updating of the voter list, infrastructure and database will not be under the purview of Election Commission. Home Ministry will become its custodian, which is unconstitutional. This will create various complications related to extra- election public interest.
2. Some ministers while defending government’s arbitrary decision, cited the example of other countries to say that national identity cards are not under the purview of election commission. They must keep in mind that national identity cards in those countries are not issued on the basis of voter lists. So, this is obviously a fallacious argument.
3. Because of the transfer to the Ministry of Home Affairs, various personal information of more than 11 crore citizens stored in the voter database will come under the control of government in the Ministry of Home Affairs. This would increase the abuse of citizens by law enforcement agencies.
4. Transfer of national ID card to Ministry of Home Affairs might involve a process of police verification before issuing an NID. At one hand, this would lead to corruption and on the other, it would be easy to deprive the political dissidents of getting NID cards on various pretexts.  Government will find before the election a royal road to keep the opposition away from the election with new tactics.
5. A manpower of 5000 personnel is presently involved in the implementation of National ID Card Registration Program who have efficiently performed the works related to elections across the country for last 13 years.
6. Since the very ID of the NID card is used as the ID for voting in the EVM system, it is feared that the ruling government would greatly manipulate the voting process and the voting turnout by indiscriminate abuse of NID cards. Besides, there is every chance of changing the voting results through digital tempering of EVM having no Voter Verifiable Paper Audit (VVPIT), of which Chittagong City Corporation election is a glaring example.

Everyone from incumbent Nurul Huda Commission to Rokibuddin Commission is responsible for braving the government to transfer the NID project from the Election Commission jurisdiction to the Ministry of Home Affairs by a single executive order of the government. The Election Commission has repeatedly stooped to government by voluntarily dissolving its own independent entity. Government has not therefore, even felt any necessity of discussing the matter with the Election Commission. When polling stations were occupied in the name of election, day-voting took place at the previous night, peoples’ franchise were taken away the Election Commission did not at all interfere. Rather it spoke in favour of the voterless election and certified it to be fair. Since the time of his takeover, the Commission led by KM Nurul Huda played subservient to the executive branch of the government. The commission under Nurul Huda surrendered to the government at every step demeaning its constitutional rights to exercise its independence.

Transfer of NID registration project is a part of government’s next election centric ill design of election engineering for clinging to state power. The present people unfriendly government is retaining power by force by abusing election as a ‘project’ to consolidate power. And as a part of maintaining this illegal occupation, the government is adding newer tactics to the election project- the transfer of NID project to the Ministry of Home Affairs is deemed just another blueprint of the government to loot people’s votes in the upcoming general election and seizing citizens’ rights and their private information under police blanket.

If so desired, the government may, however, establish a separate NID project under any department other than the Election Commission. In that event, it will be required to appoint fresh set up and establish requisite infrastructure at the grass-root level. And the new NID operation must not have any connection whatsoever with the voter database and the voter list which is the property and constitutional jurisdiction of the Election Commission, not transferrable elsewhere. Government may like to utilize the existing birth registration manpower and its infrastructure for the purpose. Until a separate establishment is in place with its own server stations and skilled manpower, the NID card operation, now an integral and inseparable part of the voter list/voter database, must continue under the Election Commission as before. The EC infrastructure, its own manpower and polls related operations cannot be conducted on share basis with the executive.

There is no doubt that the current EC has utterly failed in discharging its sacred constitutional obligation of conducting free and fair national election in 2014 and 2018. People already lost their confidence in the present Election Commission. But for that reason, it’s constitutional right to prepare voter list and NID cards that sprung out as by- product of the voter list cannot be done away with. The EC as an ‘institution’ is not to blame for the failure of the incumbent Chief election commissioner and most other commissioners. It is pertinent now to remove the current Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners in no time. It is expected that under close supervision of a neutral and credible new EC, all the election related issues including NID and voter list would be smoothly resolved.