Police preparing minority, Jamaat voter list
A letter was sent to all district superintendents of police and district Special Branch officials from the Special Branch’s headquarters on 24 July, according to the 12 officials, who includes SPs.
Police are making a list of voters from religious minorities and Jamaat-e-Islami's voters in each constituency ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election, said at least 12 officials involved in the process.
A letter was sent to all district superintendents of police and district Special Branch officials from the Special Branch's headquarters on 24 July, according to the 12 officials, who includes SPs.
The district-level police officials have also been asked to send the list in a specified table format by 2 August, they told TBS on Thursday.
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Besides, an official, with the rank of deputy inspector general, at the Special Branch headquarters, wishing anonymity, confirmed the news.
"The Special Branch has started collecting constituency-wise voters' information ahead of the 12th parliamentary elections," the official further said.
"Information is also being collected on whether any polling station in the respective constituencies is risky or not, the condition of the infrastructure of the centres, whether there has been any violence in the past, and the number of voters from religious minorities and Jamaat-e-Islami's voters," the police official added.
However, a senior police official from the Sylhet range told TBS that this is nothing new. "This information is collected before every election."
Another Special Branch official told TBS that it is a routine task of the Special Branch to gather information from the areas concerned before national or local government elections.
"The information collected includes details about security concerns, the safety of polling stations, and other relevant data. This information is then reported to the relevant government departments, including the Election Commission," the official added.
The police officer also said after the election, the security of the minority community should also be taken seriously.
"For that, it is necessary to know how many minority voters there are in any constituency. Monitoring of Jamaal-e-Islami activities before and after the polls in different areas is necessary. The purpose of collecting these data is only one -- and that is ensuring fair voting," he claimed.
