Staff Correspondent:

The Election Commission (EC) will begin distributing the pending smart national identity cards (NID) from April 12, following the completion of the ongoing voter update program.

The decision was made during the EC’s recent monthly coordination meeting.

Brigadier General Mohammad Azizur Rahman Siddiqui, director of the second phase of the Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA) project, said that the necessary equipment for distributing smart cards had limited availability due to its use in the voter update process.

Additionally, the ongoing technical engagement of these devices delayed the distribution process, he added.

As per the latest update from the Election Commission, the total number of voters in the country stands at 12,37,32,274.

Among them, 6,91,49,349 have received smart NIDs, while 5,27,811 are still awaiting the service.

Once the voter update process is completed, a revised voter list will be published in June, which is expected to include over 5 million new voters.

The distribution of smart NID cards initially began on October 3, 2016. However, even after eight years, not all citizens have received their smart cards.