Badsha visits government offices to prove himself alive from being ‘dead’ in government records

Badsha Sheikh of Faridpur. He is dead in government records. He has been deprived of his voting rights and civil rights for a decade. Badsha is facing this problem due to an error in the information of the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC). He has been visiting various government offices with his National Identity Card (NID) in hand for a long time to prove himself ‘alive’. Meanwhile, Badsha Sheikh, son of the late Gendu Sheikh of North Sadipur area of ​​Ward No. 25 of Faridpur Municipality, drives a rickshaw every day for a living.
Badsha Sheikh said that when he voted in the 2014 National Parliament election, he could not find his name in the voter list. He has not been able to vote in any election held since then. Later, he came to know that he was shown as dead in the Election Commission’s database. “I am alive, but on paper and in pen, I have been made dead. That is why my NID has also been blocked.”
Recently, Badsha Sheikh went to the Faridpur District Election Office to resolve the problem. He claimed that he did not get any solution even after showing his government national identity card with a photo. He said that the election office officials asked him to submit a certificate of survival from the municipality. He submitted the certificate of survival from the Faridpur municipality to the Election Commission on June 23 this year.
Badsha Sheikh said that if he does not work every day, his family will not be able to survive. Even then, he has to go from one office to another to get his identity back. In this regard, Ward No. 25 Councilor Syed Alaul Hossain Tonu said, what happened to Badsha Sheikh is very sad. Whether it is due to a mistake or for any other reason, we demand that the concerned authorities immediately rectify the matter and make arrangements so that a living person gets all the civic benefits including his voting rights.
In this regard, Faridpur District Election Officer Tarek Ahmed said, Badsha Sheikh’s identity information has already been corrected through the Upazila Election Officer. He said that Badsha Sheikh is no longer shown as a deceased person in the Election Commission’s database.