Sangsad Bhaban: Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said her government has taken various measures to make the Election Commission independent, impartial and acceptable in the greater national interest.

"After assuming office, our government has deeply realized the importance and inevitability of a strong and neutral EC in the case of protection and implementation of voting rights of the people," she said in reply to a tabled question from treasury bench member Fazilatunnesa Bappi.

The Prime Minister said for the first time in Bangladesh, the appointment of chief election commissioner and other election commissioners has been given through formation of a search committee headed by a judge of the appellate division of the Supreme Court.

She said an independent secretariat has been established by releasing the Election Commission Secretariat from the Prime Minister's Office. To this end, she said, 'the Election Commission Secretariat Act, 2009' has been framed.

Sheikh Hasina said 427 new posts including 154 class-I posts have been created for the EC. Besides two new wings-the National Identity Card Wing and the IT Wing-have been created in the EC secretariat, she said.

The Prime Minister said some promotions have been given in different posts including the joint secretary, while status and salary of some posts have been upgraded.

For infrastructure development, she said, steps have been taken to build nine regional server stations, 50 district server stations, 395 upazila server stations and 10 thana server stations at a cost of Taka 355.91 crore. Eighty-six percent work of these server stations has already been completed and the rest work would be finished soon, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said a plan has been undertaken to build the EC's own building 'Election Resource Centre' at a cost of Taka 184.84 crore. Land has already been allocated in the capital's Agargaon area for the centre, she said.

She added that work order has been given to construct the Election Commission Training Institute at its one portion, while the work on tender evaluation for constructing the main EC building is now at the final stage.

The other steps, she said, include undertaking the Taka 141.78 crore Strengthening Election Management in Bangladesh (SEMB) Project and the Taka 1,379.19 crore Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA) Project for strengthening the election management to ensure more transparency and accountability.

The Prime Minister said a scope has been created to make expatriate Bangladeshis voters by amending the Voter List Act, 2009. Besides, she said, various laws and rules related to the elections have been amended to make the election system more time-befitting.

Ends/AMA/13/02/13