registration technology

Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury

Ref Batch
J
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
4
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Varanya Chaubey
Name
Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury
Interviewee's Position
Project Director for Voter List Project
Interviewee's Organization
Bangladesh Election Commission
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Bangladesh
Town/City
Dhaka
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury explains the process by which the Bangladesh Army created an electronic voter registration process and electronic electoral roll with photographs. The Electoral Commission chose the Army for this task out of various national and international organizations who submitted offers. He describes several capabilities that the Army brought to the task, including several officers with information technology (IT) skills and the ability, with the Navy and Coast Guard, to reach geographically remote communities. One challenge he identifies was finding and training staff with the necessary IT skills and acquiring the necessary technological resources, such as laptops, cameras, and finger print scanners. To address this need within a short time frame, he explains that the army sought out a number of vendors and occasionally accepted assistance from United Nations Development Project (UNDP). Chowdhury describes how the Army developed software to collect the voters’ information and identify multiple registrations by maintaining the registry. He explains the verification processes for the voter registry, including local government authentication of data and review by the Department for International Development (DFID) and UNDP.    

Profile

At the time of this interview Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury was serving as the project director for the Election Commission’s voter list project. The project, formally known as the Preparation of Electoral Roll with Photographs, began in 2007. He came to this position as a Brigadier General in the Bangladesh Army. 

Full Audio File Size
43 MB
Full Audio Title
Shahadat Chowdhury Interview