Election Commission (EC) officials have sought mobile phone sets from the authorities to keep their official SIMs active and ensure uninterrupted communication at the field level.
The demand came after the commission instructed officials to keep official SIMs active during a monthly coordination meeting on 15 April, prompting officials to call for dedicated devices.
The commission has, meanwhile, asked the relevant wing to review the proposal.
“The proposal to provide mobile phone sets for officials is being examined in line with policy,” EC Additional Secretary KM Ali Newaz told TIMES of Bangladesh. “A decision will be taken after receiving reports from the relevant departments.”
EC sources said government SIMs were earlier distributed to ensure quick communication between the central office and regional, district and upazila officials, but the SIMs are often not kept active.
Most officials use multiple SIMs on personal phones, which disrupts communication through official numbers and delays coordination.
Officials said the absence of dedicated devices makes it difficult to keep government SIMs active, while managing multiple SIMs, charging constraints and handling personal and official calls together often hamper important communication.
They added that frequent calls from service seekers are putting extra pressure on personal numbers and affecting privacy.
Providing each official with a dedicated mobile phone would allow separation of official and personal communication, speed up delivery of urgent instructions, ensure follow-ups and improve field-level work efficiency, they said.
The meeting proposed supplying a mobile phone alongside SIMs to each regional, district and upazila election officer, and the commission asked the relevant wing to assess costs, usability and implementation before making recommendations.
Service wing sources said the proposal is under review, including whether it complies with government regulations.
Earlier, the EC supplied 42,200 tablets at a cost of about Tk42 crore to speed up electoral activities, but many devices failed due to poor quality and defects.
A large number of tablets became non-functional soon after distribution, and most became unusable after the three-year warranty period expired.
The meeting also raised several operational issues related to public services.
Field-level officials sought authority to issue No Objection Certificates (NOC) for SIM purchases for individuals whose fingerprints cannot be verified, saying the current requirement to visit the National Identity Card (NID) wing causes delays and hardship.
They also called for resuming access to NID server copies, proposing that citizens be allowed to obtain them through online fee payments.
Officials said NID server copies are required for banking and other essential services, and that field-level access had been withdrawn earlier over allegations of irregularities.
To reduce backlogs, the EC set a deadline to resolve all NID correction applications submitted up to 15 April by 30 April.
