Making vote theft a matter of past

Reaz Ahmad

Photo: Amirul Rajiv

ON 8th of June 2007 a pilot project was launched in Sreepur Municipality of Gazipur, a district adjacent to the national capital, to test how people respond to a call for getting themselves registered as voters by turning up at designated registration centres. Enumerators first went door-to-door and helped them fill up enrolment forms. Two days later as registration centres were opened and people asked to show up and get their photographs taken and fingerprints scanned, rain played foul. Many braved the rain to get them enrolled, many others did not.

It was a paradigm shift in the history of preparing electoral rolls in Bangladesh. It was for the first time voters had to go outdoors, to the designated registration centres for their photographs to be taken and finger prints scanned once the enumerators had done their parts by completing door-to-door data collections. There were many difficulties; inaccessible terrains, hard-to-reach river deltas and social taboos. But in the following 11 months nothing impeded Bangladesh of accomplishing a mission to get away from the pathetic past of vote theft, electoral fraudulences once and for all.

Today Bangladesh boasts having electronically registered all its eligible voters, successfully developing a foolproof database able to deter all sorts of voting fraudulence. And rightfully so as it is now internationally recognised that photo voter registration in Bangladesh was a groundbreaking exercise in both scale and scope.

The nationwide project called 'Preparation of Electoral Roll with Photographs (PERP) and Facilitating the Issuance of National Identity (ID) Card' otherwise, known as PERP Project, has gone from the planning stage to printing the voter list in less than 18 months. That gave Bangladesh a rare distinction of holding the record in electronically registering the largest number of voters, over 80 million, in the shortest time period ever (11 months precisely). Never before, in any other country, have so many people been electronically registered in such a short time.

To achieve such a milestone in our democratic culture was not a cakewalk though. What eventually would present the nation credible parliamentary elections (December 29, 2008) and give the people a new hope for democratic emancipation it all began in April 2007 like a spark.

Credit goes to Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) that probably couldn't have timed it better in proposing preparing an infallible electoral roll in 2007 summer. It was a smart move on BEC's part to seize the opportunity of a non-party extended caretaker regime running the state affairs. The 1/11 changeover and the international community's support to fulfill the army-backed caretaker government's intention to rid of the voter-roll malpractices, once and for all, thenceforth made the task easier.

A brief flashback would remind us all the background against which the PERP reality came into fore. An important element in creating a credible voters' list is the preparation, maintenance and periodic updating of an electoral roll on the principle of universal adult franchise. But during the run-up to the 9th parliamentary polls, initially scheduled to be held on 22nd January 2007, the BEC faced significant difficulties due largely to the process adopted in preparing the electoral roll.

After the dissolution of parliament in October 2006, in the days leading up to the elections, violence became widespread with rapid slide in the overall law and order situation of the country. Eventually, the elections could not be held. A new caretaker government assumed charge and vowed to the nation its intention of holding a free, fair and credible election.

One of the main reasons for the deferment of the January 2007 election was a faulty and grossly inaccurate electoral roll that was not acceptable to the then opposition parties. Several civil society groups, local and foreign NGOs and prominent citizens of the country also pointed to innumerable anomalies relating to the process of updating the electoral roll and its final outcome.

The January 22, 2007 election was cancelled in the face of an intensely discredited voter list that had been estimated to carry 12.2 million duplicate and ghost voters. This figure is roughly 13 percent of the total number of eligible voters in Bangladesh and greatly exceeds the traditionally acceptable 5 percent margin of error.

On January 11, 2007 a new caretaker government was sworn in with a self-imposed timeframe of staying in power much beyond the constitutionally sanctioned three-month period, but also with a solid mandate to hold credible elections. Accordingly the BEC was reconstituted and a roadmap to elections was unveiled having the agenda of completing required electoral reforms and creating a fresh voters' list with photographs.

A committee constituted by the government, headed by the then Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury (JRC), examined the issue of preparing the new electoral roll with photographs and fingerprints and provisional voter ID cards. After assessing the technology, he opined that this could be done within 12 months. The JRC committee also assessed that required human resources were available in the country to perform the task. However, large expenditures on equipment like portable computers and peripherals would be incurred and required tools would have to be procured from abroad involving a huge amount of foreign currency. It would be very difficult for the government to provide such a large amount of funds from the revenue budget in a single year.

Development partners, while meeting government leaders including the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda and other high officials in April 2007 appreciated the need of electoral reforms in Bangladesh in order to stabilise the future of democracy in the country. The government requested assistance from development partners to financially support the urgent preparation of voter roll with photographs and the later agreed to lend the support.

Fifty million US dollars was mobilized from the international community, including the European Commission, the UK's DFID, UNDP and the governments of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and South Korea, along with 29 million US dollars from the Bangladesh government. UNDP managed the pooled fund while BEC implemented the PERP Project with a great deal of manpower, logistical and technical assistance provided by the armed forces.

Successful implementation of this project required close cooperation among the BEC, the armed forces, local government officials, civil society and international development partners. It was the first time that the armed forces and the Election Commission worked so closely together, which was imperative for the success of the initiative.

Brigadier General Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury from Bangladesh Army, who would later join UN job in Afghanistan, was given the task of national project director (NPD) for the PERP, and was assisted by a competent team of officials drawn from the BEC, government bureaucracy, army and a group of UNDP-recruited experts.

Apart from the Project's own initiatives of extensive multimedia awareness campaigns, The Asia Foundation mobilized 34 local NGOs throughout the country to raise awareness. That collaboration, called the Election Working Group (EWG), helped to disseminate information widely at the grassroots level and encourage women and minorities to participate.

Over 80 million voters were registered under the project in a period of less than one year. This enormous achievement required training over half a million election workers including 309,000 enumerators, 104,000 computer operators, 62,000 supervisors, 6,000 officers and various technical experts and support staff, procuring over 10,000 laptops with web cams and fingerprint scanners and coordinating activities in nearly 90,000 registration centers across the country.

The exercise of creating a new voter list with photographs involved digitally capturing personal data, photographs and fingerprints into laptops, which were integrated with the national database. This required technology and skills quite different from what had been in practice previousely in Bangladesh. A useful and innovative by product of this initiative is the provisional national ID card, which was given to voters after they registered.

The 2007-08 voter enrolment exercise was a major shift from previous such exercises on many accounts that made it totally unique. Previousely voters remained indoor while enumerators, data collectors visited households to get people enrolled. It was for the first time voters had to go outdoor, go to the designated registration centres for their photographs to be taken and finger prints imprinted once the enumerators had done their parts by completing door-to-door data collections. There were exceptions too. Mobile data entry teams went to the homes of disabled voters to ensure they are included in the photo voter list. They also visited hospitals and jails to make certain everyone has an opportunity to register.

In the countryside it was for many Bangladeshis first-ever encounters with gadgets like laptops, web cams and fingerprint scanners. In a sense it was a firsthand initial introduction to, what eventually would one day lead us to digital Bangladesh.

It required enormous efforts from communication and public awareness points of views as the PERP Project and the BEC had to carry out many campaigns and awareness building activities using public communication tools and media to keep prospective voters aware about their turns when to get registered, where to get registered, what steps to follow to get the provisional national ID cards etc.

A Voter Registration Information Centre (VRIC) was set up on November 26, 2007 at the PERP Headquarters. Public calls inquiring about issues relating to voter registration schedules, process, and complaints were received and registered at this Centre. This Centre was manned by trained officers and had two dedicated phone lines open for call-receipt from 9 am to 5 pm from Sunday through Thursday excepting public holidays. Officials stationed at the Centre assisted people with answers to FAQs (frequently asked questions) and provided references and relevant links (phones, addresses of concerned offices) to satisfy public queries.

Throughout the registration process various advertisements were published in the national dailies to make voters aware about registration-related developments. The main features of those advertisements were: registration progress on maps, milestones achieved in voter registration, notices about server room closures, information and contact numbers of election officials, special notices for left-out voters, and special drive for ID card correction/distribution etc.

Besides, all the processes were put on record by the means of video documentary and still photographs. Two photo albums were produced marking halfway and full competitions of voter registrations, in March and July, 2008 respectively. One combined DVD consisting of two short documentaries; one 'election theme song' and a digital photo album were produced giving the epoch-making exercise a wider visibility both at home and abroad.

There were lots of challenges in making the photo voter registration a success within a very limited timeframe. As many voters live in rural and remote areas, often without power and far from the nearest road, introducing photo voter registration with laptops, fingerprint scanners and digital cameras in this environment was no easy task. However, by working together, local government officials, civil society, the Bangladesh Election Commission, and the Armed Forces overcame all obstacles at every stage.

Not only are the numbers impressive, but so is the accuracy of the voter list. Modern technology enabled the elimination of duplicate and fraudulent entries, and significantly reduced the occurrence of vote theft.

In the then United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Renata Dessallien's words, “the people of Bangladesh now feel proud that their 2008 voter list compares favourably not only with other developing countries, but also with developed nations.”

Registering millions of people who live in remote and difficult to reach areas was a major hurdle. Reaching people in Bangladesh's river deltas, hill tracts, areas ravaged by cyclone SIDR and densely populated farm land all required different approaches in very different working conditions.

Helicopters were used to ferry equipment and workers into otherwise inaccessible locations. Portable generators enabled election workers to run equipment and conduct registration wherever electricity was absent or unreliable.

The assistance of the Bangladesh Navy was critical in reaching the thousands of people who live on island deltas, remote costal areas and in the Sundarbans. Small boats were used to ferry teams of election workers and equipment to their destinations.

To ensure women felt comfortable to visit the registration centers, the PERP Project trained female data entry operators. Separate areas were set up for women to give them privacy. The Election Commission worked with local Imams to educate women wearing hijab about the acceptability of taking a photo for official purposes.

The Election Commission worked with local and tribal leaders in minority communities to ensure they were well informed. Where possible, minorities were recruited as enumerators and data entry operators to serve in their communities.

The then government and the BEC were well focused on completion of the task on time. Starting from a pilot conducted in Sreepur Municipality of Gazipur in June 2007 up to the completion ceremony in July the following year they never shifted that focus and determination.

Registration was on track right from the beginning for completion according to the Electoral Timeline. In just seven months, 40 million voters were digitally registered in Bangladesh, which is more than the combined populations of Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

A credible voters list is an absolute prerequisite for holding a free and fair election. By creating a comprehensive list with photographs and fingerprints, the Bangladesh Election Commission has not only eliminated duplicate records and prevented fraudulent entries, but it also greatly reduced the occurrence of vote theft, a common cause of voter disenfranchisement.

Reaz Ahmad is a news editor of The Daily Star.