Zubaida Rahman, wife of BNP's acting chairman Tarique Rahman, has been registered as a voter in Dhaka after the Election Commission collected information about her.
EC officials said her information was gathered during door-to-door data collection as part of the ongoing voter list update.
Asked, Akhtar Ahmed, senior secretary of the EC Secretariat, said that Zubaida's information had been collected as part of the voter list update process.
According to the EC, although data collection and registration are carried out, names are included in the final voter list only after the entire update process is completed. As per the law, the draft voter list must be published on January 2 next year, with the final list to follow on March 2. However, if the election is held in February, the Election Commission is considering amendment of the Voter List Act to finalise the list earlier.
During the caretaker government following the 1/11 political changeover, the process of creating a photo-based voter list began for the first time in 2008. At that time, Tarique and Zubaida were residing in London, UK. The couple left Bangladesh for London on September 11, 2008. Since then, they had not returned to the country and had not registered as voters.
On May 6, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia returned to Bangladesh after receiving medical treatment in London. Zubaida also returned with her father-in-law. Before Eid-ul-Azha, Election Commission officials completed the data collection and registration process for Zubaida to be enlisted as a voter in Dhaka. Zubaida returned to London on June 5.
There is speculation over whether Zubaida, a doctor by profession, will contest in the upcoming election.
