"The national election, therefore, should be held as soon as possible to uphold the dignity of the constitution," he said.

He was speaking as the chair of a dissemination programme of a voter list survey conducted by Brotee in association with Power and Participation Research Centre, Unnayan Shamannay, and The Hunger Project.

Dr Akbar, who quit the Iajuddin-led caretaker government along with three other advisers, expected that the new Election Commission (EC) will consult the political parties and learn from working on the ground and the outer world for preparing a scientific and correct voter list.

"The Supreme Court gave the solution to the voter list problem by directing to prepare a national database," he said, adding that this is unfortunately not possible on the basis of the present voter roll that contains many mistakes in it.

People do not have trust on the present voter roll and so will not accept it as the EC made the mistakes there willingly, he said.

Criticising the previous EC, Akbar said it is not enough for the EC people to understand only laws--they also need to understand sociology and the computer.

Former cabinet secretary Dr Sa'dat Hossain said the most important thing for the EC to prepare a correct voter list is honesty and integrity, which the previous EC lacked in.

There were skilled people in the EC, but they could not prepare a correct voter list as they actually did not want it, he said, adding, "They rather indulged in immoral activities using dishonest means."

Sa'dat suggested using coloured forms for migrating voters to avoid duplication and clamping of curfew, if needed, for a certain period to ensure accuracy.

He said a robust methodology, cooperation of the administration and campaign for creating awareness about the voter roll among people are a must to prepare an accurate voter list.

Former adviser to the caretaker government M Hafizuddin Khan said voter list is a continuous process and "We should prepare it every year, which will reduce the cost and help keep it accurate."

Dr Atiur Rahman of Unnayan Shamannay said the EC should have strong monitoring system for updating the voter list. There could also be an independent monitoring team for crosschecking the list at the field level to avoid duplication, he said.

More problematic areas could be prioritised in case of updating the voter list, especially in the urban, slum and river erosion-prone areas from where people frequently migrate, he said.

On the voter ID card, he said the issue should be considered seriously before taking any concrete initiative. A pilot project could be initiated for experiment before going all out for it, he noted.

Awami League (AL) leader Abul Mal Abdul Muhith said a sedition case should be filed against former chief election commissioner Justice MA Aziz and election commissioners Mahfuzur Rahman and SM Zakaria as they caused huge damage to the nation.

Juktafront leader ASM Abdur Rab suggested introduction of national ID card, saying it could help the common people in various ways and holding of a free and fair election.

The Brotee survey that involved door-to-door visits in 28 constituencies found 12,51,375 or 17.3 percent excess voters on the current voter list, said Brotee Chief Executive Officer Sharmeen Murshid.

The actual number of voters in the 28 constituencies is 72,51,098, while the voter list shows 85,02,473 persons as voters, she said.

Sharmeen said their experience suggests that updating of the new voter list could be done at a cost of Tk 40-50 crore within three months.

AL leaders Col (retd) Faruk Khan and Abdul Matin Khasru also spoke at the programme.