The interim government on Thursday approved the drafts of three ordinances, including the Electoral Rolls (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, which will allow eligible people to get registered as voters up to a reasonable time before the election schedule is announced.
As per the existing law, young people who become eligible to vote after January 2 are deprived of their voting rights if the elections are held in the following months, even till March of the next year.
The approval came at a meeting of the Council of Advisers, held at the Chief Adviser’s Office (CAO), with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in the chair.
“The meeting gave the final approval to the draft of the Electoral Rolls (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025,” said CA’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam while briefing reporters at the Foreign Service Academy.
Besides, he said, the Council of Advisers approved two other draft ordinances, which are now subject to legal vetting.
These are the ‘Human Organ Transplantation Ordinance, 2025’ and the ‘Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025,’ he added.
According to the Article 11(1) of the Electoral Rolls Act 2009, the voter lists shall be updated from January 02 to March 02 every year in a specific system and anyone who became eligible to be a voter having completed 18 years of age from January 2 of the previous year or remained eligible to be a voter, shall be incorporated in the electoral rolls.
Now the Election Commission publishes the draft voter lists in January and finalise the lists on March 02 every year, incorporating those who become eligible till January 01 of the same year
Due to this provision, if anyone becomes eligible to be a voter even on January 02, 2025, the person can’t exercise his or her voting rights till March 02, 2026.
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Talking about the draft ordinance approved by the Council of Advisers, CA’s senior assistant press secretary Foyez Ahammad said January 1 of a particular year is fixed as the date of eligibility to become a voter. “So, those who complete 18 years of age after January 1 till December 31 of the same year cannot vote in any election to be held during that year or even until March 1 of the following year,” he said.
“For the sake of implementing the principle of universal voting rights, those who have completed 18 years of age before the announcement of the schedules for the parliamentary election and other elections should also be given the opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” said Foyez.
Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said the draft of the Human Organ Transplantation Ordinance, 2025 is very important for the country and was discussed in detail at the meeting.
Under this law, he said, many people with kidney problems will be able to get transplants in the country and people who cannot see may regain their sight if corneas are transplanted into their eyes.
“There are many other issues involved. These matters have not been updated for a long time. The Ministry of Health has spoken to everyone involved in organ transplantation, including major hospitals and their experts, and reviewed international laws and standards before finalising the draft,” Alam said.
As a result of this ordinance, he said organ transplantation in Bangladesh will become much easier. “Earlier, organs could only be taken from one’s brother, sister or parents for transplant. Now the scope has been expanded a bit.”
For example, Alam said, nieces and nephews can now donate organs.
The Press Secretary said many people in Bangladesh will no longer need to go abroad for kidney transplants, as hospitals in the country will now be able to offer these services in a much simpler way.
“So, we believe this is a groundbreaking law for Bangladesh. Many people want to donate their bodies. This law addresses how organs will be collected from donated bodies and how it can be done legally,” he said.
About the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, Alam said there was a small change related to the Board of Investment in the existing law. “As a result, some new recruitment can now be made from outside the Board of Investment.”
Besides, he said, there was a detailed discussion at the Council of Advisers meeting about the Gopalganj incident. A probe committee has been formed, led by the Senior Secretary of the Home Ministry. “There will also be two additional secretaries — one from the Law Ministry and another from the Public Administration Ministry.”
Alam said the three-member committee has been given 14 days to investigate the incident and submit their report to the Chief Adviser’s Office.
He said the committee will thoroughly investigate all aspects of the Gopalganj incident, including the reasons behind it, how the deaths occurred, and who was involved in the violence. “They will examine every detail.”