Service seekers suffer as voter migration remains halted in Mongla for a month

Voter migration services at the Mongla upazila Election Office in Bagerhat have remained suspended for nearly a month, causing severe suffering to citizens seeking the service.

Although the service is crucial for updating national identity cards and voter information, service seekers alleged that no visible steps have been taken to resolve the issue.

While officials have cited server problems, allegations have surfaced that the service has actually been stalled due to internal administrative complications at the office.

According to sources, the office has been receiving new applications for voter migration over the past month, but data entry and processing in the system have effectively remained suspended.

As a result, applicants are not receiving the service within the expected time. Although other activities at the election office are continuing as usual, questions have been raised over why only the voter migration service remains halted.

Service seekers said voter area transfer is an important service for students, jobholders, businesspeople, and citizens who have changed their permanent addresses for various reasons.

However, as the service has remained unavailable for a long time, many people are facing difficulties in both official and personal matters.

Shamima Begum Rumu, a housewife and one of the service seekers, said she submitted the necessary documents for voter migration on 13 May.

However, nearly a month has passed, and she has yet to receive any SMS or update on the progress of her application.

She said she visited the election office several times, but each time she was told about server problems or technical glitches.

Another service seeker, government employee Ruma Hira, and her husband, Tarun Chandra, a businessman, said they went to the election office after Eid to submit documents for voter migration.

They said that the office initially refused to accept their documents, saying the upazila election officer was on 15 days' leave and that there was a server error.

Later, following the intervention of the district election officer, their documents were accepted.

However, they were told that the server problem persisted and there was uncertainty over when the voter migration process would begin.

Several service seekers said that they have had to travel repeatedly to the election office from distant areas, wasting time, money, and effort.

They said no one at the office has been able to provide clear information about when the problem will be resolved or when the service will resume, leaving people uncertain and facing harassment.

It was learned that a data entry operator ID used for processing voter migration information is currently inactive.

Several sources linked to the election office claimed that the ID has remained inactive due to internal administrative complications or a lack of coordination among officials.

As a result, voter migration applications cannot be entered into the system, bringing the entire process to a halt.

Service seekers questioned why ordinary people should suffer if the service has been stopped due to administrative complications or internal disputes.

Bagerhat District Election Officer Muhammad Abu Ansar acknowledged the problem, but could not provide any specific information on why the issue has not been resolved for so long or when the service will return to normal.

Meanwhile, service seekers informed the chief election commissioner, the Election Commission secretary, and the Khulna regional election officer about the matter by email last week. However, no effective step has been taken so far, causing public suffering to intensify.