Phase I is Voter list with photo, Phase II is National ID

Finally, the powers-that-be are thinking the right way. Election commissioner Sohul Hossain stated yesterday that because a voter list with photos and national IDs (NID) will require the same type of manpower and technology, so the election commission (EC) is doing both at the same time.

Commissionar Hossain also said that while 18 months would be enough to finish the work on the photo voter list (PVL), it will not be sufficient for a national ID. So it will be phase I for the national ID work. The home ministry and other agencies will get involved, but the EC will be the lead agency.

Finally we have some solid numbers: the work for the PVL and the NID will begin at the same time, and the teams will use 8000 laptops, digital cameras, printers and generators.

I got a little confused here. My interpretation of the Bangla report in Ajker Kagoj is that there will be 8000 laptos, digital cameras, printers and generators EACH. ("aat hajar kore laptop, digital camera, generator, printer..."). I perfectly understand the 8000 laptops and 8000 digital cameras, but why would 8000 generators be needed? For that matter, why would even one generator be needed? Previous reports indicated that the Army will perform the data collection. Excellent.

• Install DC-to-AC inverters on all the trucks
• Carry spare batteries for laptops
• Charge when necessary

The issue of digital cameras concern me a bit. I hope the plan includes capturing the image from the same application that will be used for the data collection. Otherwise if just a plain digital camera is used to take photos, it will be a nightmare to reconcile the photos to the records. For the time being, I am not even going to touch the fact that many conservative families will refuse to let their women be photographed (this is the topic of another article), even if there are females holding the camera.