Responding to a demand from journalists, the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday decided to issue press cards manually as well, alongside the existing online system, for media persons to cover the national election scheduled for February 12 next.

“We’ve agreed in principle to reintroduce the manual system as per your demand,” said EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed while briefing reporters on Thursday afternoon.  

Replying to a question, the EC Secretary said journalists whose online applications have already been approved will receive their press cards through the online process, while those who have not yet applied online will be able to obtain press cards manually. “We’ll inform you soon when the manual issuance process of the press cards will begin,” he said.

Earlier in the day, journalist leaders met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin and demanded for simplifying the press card issuance process, citing difficulties with the newly introduced online system.

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The Reporters Forum for Election & Democracy (RFED) arranged the meeting attended by the leaders of the Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), the Broadcast Journalist Centre (BJC) and Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum (BSRF).

In response, the CEC said, “The process of issuing journalist cards online is not user-friendly. This is our new journey, so a problem has appeared with it.It has become a problem. Since it (online application process) is for the first time, it is definitely a problem. Inshallah it will be resolved.”

DUJ President Shahidul Islam and its general secretary Khurshid Alam, RFED President Kazi Jabel, BJC Chairman Rezwanul Haque Raza and its executive Milton Anwar Executive, BSRF President Masudul Hoque and its general secretary Obaidullah Badal, among others, spoke at the meeting moderated by RFED general secretary Golam Rabbani.