District election officials admitted to The Daily Star that over 1 lakh Rohingyas are already on the voter list and a large number of others might have been enrolled while correcting the updated list that ended on Monday.

District Election Officer Toyfique Eliyahi Chowdury said they are verifying correction of the voter roll.

The Relief and Refugee Repatriation Commission Office also did not rule out the possibility of many Rohingyas being on the 'corrected' voter list.

"At least 3,00,000 Rohingyas are living illegally in different areas of Cox's Bazar district. I guess many of them have been put on the list," a commission official said.

Officials of the district administration said as per their estimate in July last year, Rohingya refugees totalled 50,525 and since then many more might have entered Bangladesh. The actual number of Rohingyas in the district could be much higher, and it is very difficult to identify them as they have assimilated into the local people.

"It is likely that many of them have been enrolled as voters on instruction from a section of political leaders," one official said.

The upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Teknaf pointed out that as Teknaf and Ukhiya upazilas share borders with Myanmar, it is much easier for the Rohingyas to enter Bangladesh through these areas.

Sources claimed that in Teknaf, Ukhiya and Ramu upazilas, at least 3,000 Rohingya refugees have been included in the corrected voter list.

In Chakoria, Maheshkhali and Cox's Bazar Sadar upazilas, the number of Rohingyas on the list might be more than 2,000, the sources added.

District Awami League (AL) General Secretary Shalauddin Ahamed alleged that over 5,000 voters loyal to his party were deleted from the voter list while 'correcting' it.

Zafar Alam, chairman of Chakoria Paurasabha, and Abdur Rahman Bodi, chairman of Teknaf Paurasabha, alleged that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders influenced the Election Commission (EC) field staff to include a large number of Rohingyas in the voter list.

Teknaf upazila BNP President Mostaque Ahmed Chowdhury however said a small number Rohingyas might have been enrolled as voters but the number is not as big as claimed by the AL leaders.

Maheshkhali upazila AL President Anwar Pasha said some 2,000 supporters of his party were dropped from the updated voter list.

He also named a few Rohingyas enrolled in the voter list as Noor Mohammed (voter no 0347), Ali Ullah, (no 0348), Ziaur Rahman (no 0349), Nurul Amin (no 0350), Mohammed Taher (no 0351), Mohammed Idris (no 0352) and Shajeda Begum (no 0337). He has lodged a complaint with the local election officer but these voters are still on the list, he said.

Ashrafun Yusuf, a housewife and an eligible voter in Ukhiya, said none of her family members was included in the list although they had filled in the forms designated for this.

Members of some Hindu families in the locality, who were enrolled as voters in 2000, have been allegedly left out from the present list.

Pinto Dutta, 28, said he and four other family members -- his mother Aroti Bala, 50, brother Monintro Dhatta, 45, wife Minakkghi, 25, and sister-in-law Piplo, 38, -- were on the list of 2000 but this time their names have been deleted.

Moreover, the EC staffs did not visit many houses in six upazilas of the district for correcting the voter list till the last day yesterday, locals alleged.

Residents of Agriculture Office Road at the district town said the EC staff visited their houses but they did not register any new voters

A number of eligible voters in Moheshkhali, Chakoria, Ramu, Teknaf and Ukhiya said no EC staff visited their houses.

Abdur Rahim, president of Ukhiya Press Club, said none of his family members has been registered as voters.

Helenaz Tahera, commissioner of Cox's Bazar Paursabha, alleged that many of his relatives have not been enrolled in the 'corrected' voter list.