Cabinet extends deadline for updating voter list

The cabinet on Wednesday approved the draft of Electoral Rolls (Amendment) Bill 2019 extending the deadline for updating voter lists till 1 March instead of 31 January every year, reports UNB.

The approval came at a cabinet meeting held with prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at her office.

"The amendment is being brought to the existing Electoral Rolls Act 2009 aiming to extend the timeframe till 1 March as it's difficult to update all the voter lists within only 29 days from 1 January to 31 January," said cabinet secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing reporters at the secretariat after the meeting.

According to article 11 of the existing Electoral Rolls Act 2009, there is a provision to update all the voter lists from 2 January to 31 January every year.

The cabinet meeting also decided to observe the National Voter Day on 2 March instead of 1 March every year, he said.

"In line with the National Voter Day, the 2-31 January has been replaced by 2 January- 1 March in the draft Electoral Rolls (Amendment) Bill 2019 to extend the timeframe for updating the existing voter lists stored in the computer database," he said.

The cabinet also approved in principle the draft of the "National Agriculture Mechanization Policy-2019" to promote mechanisation in the agricultural sector.

"Farmers can purchase different types of agricultural machinery at affordable prices, and they'll also get soft loan at low interest rate and or no-interest under the policy, said the cabinet secretary.

He said the policy will help bring down the production cost as it requires less workers in the agricultural sector.

Anwarul Islam said the policy will also open up the potential of commercialisation of agricultural products.

Besides, the cabinet meeting approved a proposal that was brought to declare 1 March as the National Insurance Day.