A surge in foreign tours by top officials at Bangladesh’s Election Commission (EC) has raised eyebrows, with commissioners and bureaucrats frequently travelling abroad under the banner of overseeing expatriate voter registration and NID distribution activities.

Sources at the EC confirm that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin and other election commissioners, including EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, have recently travelled to various countries. The CEC is currently in Canada on a 10-day visit, where he is attending events related to voter registration and the inauguration of National ID (NID) card distribution.

This follows a similar tour in April by Additional Secretary KM Ali Newaz, who led a five-member team to both Canada and the United States to provide training to embassy staff. That month, two technical teams — each with 11 members — also visited Canada for 17 days. Simultaneously, two teams travelled to Australia for 18 days, and another six-member team went to the United Kingdom.

NID Director General ASM Humayun Kabir headed a five-member team that toured Australia and Singapore. EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed travelled to Japan in August, followed by another seven-day technical mission to the country. This month, two administrative teams — led by the EC Secretary and the NID DG — are scheduled to visit the United States, alongside four technical teams comprising 16 officials.

Currently, Election Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar is in Malaysia, while Commissioner Abul Fazl Md Sanaullah is set to visit Sweden in October, following earlier trips to the Middle East. Commissioner Tahmid Ahmed will attend a conference in Morocco in the same month.

Meanwhile, Additional Secretary KM Ali Newaz will lead an administrative delegation to Jordan next month, alongside a four-member technical team. Joint Secretary Atikur Rahman will head a team to the Maldives, and NID Project Additional Director Nuruzzaman Khan will travel to Oman. Project Director Mohammad Azizur Rahman Siddiqui is set to lead an administrative team to South Africa.

According to EC officials, the trips are officially for consultation, voter registration launches, NID distribution, and embassy staff training. However, critics note that many of the same countries had been visited under previous commissions — notably under KM Nurul Huda and Kazi Habibul Awal — for identical purposes. Countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Canada, and Italy have seen repeated visits.

Funding for these trips comes from the IDEA-2 project (Smart Card Project), whereas earlier tours were supported under IDEA-1. Some officials have questioned the spending, especially as the rising cost of the US dollar has already hindered the procurement of essential blank smart cards from suppliers.

The timing of the frequent travel, with a general election approaching, is also causing concern. The absence of top EC officials has reportedly slowed decision-making, including finalising party registrations and conducting pre-election dialogues. EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed acknowledged that decisions regarding party registration would be finalised upon the CEC’s return, noting that investigation reports from field offices are under review.

So far, the commission has launched expatriate voter registration activities in 17 embassies across 10 countries: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, and Japan. New programmes are expected to launch soon in the US and at least four additional countries.

EC officials say the drive is in line with the caretaker government’s pledge to ensure voting rights for expatriates. The voter registration process also enables applicants to receive NID cards via their embassies. Embassy staff are trained by EC teams to handle the registration process, which includes collecting a fixed fee from applicants. After verification, applications are sent for final approval by the commission.

To become voters from abroad, applicants must submit online Form-2(K), a valid or expired Bangladeshi passport, certification from three NID-holding citizens, a digital birth certificate, and a passport-sized colour photo. These documents must be physically submitted to embassy counters.

For citizens from 56 designated upazilas/police stations in the Chattogram region, additional documents may be required — including educational certificates, parental NIDs or death certificates, driving licences, TINs, dual citizenship certificates (where applicable), marriage certificates, spousal NIDs, utility bills showing a local address, rent agreements, and no-objection letters from landlords.

If not submitted abroad, these documents can also be provided by relatives at upazila offices in Bangladesh.

The overseas registration initiative began under the KM Nurul Huda-led commission in 2019, following directives from the Prime Minister’s Office. It was officially launched in the UAE in November 2019, followed by the UK, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the Maldives. However, the COVID-19 pandemic stalled operations. The effort was revived under the Kazi Habibul Awal commission in 2022, which relaunched the process with a fresh start, bypassing earlier applications.

The Nasir Uddin-led commission is now continuing and expanding the project. To date, around 55,000 applications have been received from 10 countries. More than 30,000 applicants have completed the process, including biometric verification.

Based on data from the EC, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, and Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), the commission has identified 40 countries with significant Bangladeshi diaspora populations. These include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Sudan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, Italy, Hong Kong, Egypt, Brunei, Mauritius, Iraq, the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Greece, Spain, Germany, South Africa, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Brazil, China, Indonesia, the Maldives, New Zealand, Russia, Turkey, and Cyprus — home to an estimated 14 million Bangladeshis.

Saudi Arabia hosts the largest number, with 4.05 million, while New Zealand has the smallest, at just 2,500. The EC plans to gradually roll out voter registration and NID services across all of these nations.

According to NID Director General ASM Humayun Kabir, the commission expects to launch the programme in the United States next month, followed by Oman, South Africa, Jordan, and the Maldives, with the Foreign Ministry already having granted approval.

SMS/