By NNN-Xinhua
Dhaka : The Bangladeshi Election Commission (EC) is to set up election booths at different jails in main cities including Dhaka Central Jail to enable prisoners to cast their votes, local newspaper The Independent reported Sunday.
“We will take the decision after discussing the matter with the Home Ministry and the jail authorities and if it is possible, we will issue a notification in this regard,” said Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain.
“The prisoners outside the city corporations will cast their votes through postal ballots,” he said while visiting Dhaka Central Jail Saturday.
All the citizens in the country have the rights to enroll their names in the voter list and we would have to ensure the citizens of their rights, he said.
“For the first time in the history, we are enlisting the prisoners as voters. Though the prisoners were convicted in different cases, they have rights to enlist their names in the voter list on humanitarian ground and being citizens of the country they have the rights,” he added.
The first phase of enlisting the prisoners of Dhaka district completed Saturday. A total of 3082 prisoners of Dhaka Central Jail enlisted their names in the voter list.
The Bangladeshi caretaker government led by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed has promised several times to hold a free and fair elections by the end of this year and to return its power to an elected government.