NID birth date corrections get easier under new EC rules

The Election Commission (EC) has allowed field-level election officials to settle applications for correcting dates of birth on National Identity (NID) cards when the changes are supported by verifiable JSC, secondary or equivalent educational certificates.

Under the new directive, designated upazila or thana election officers, senior district or district election officers, and assistant directors, deputy directors and directors of the NID Wing can process such applications, classified as Category ‘A’ cases.

The directive was issued in a circular signed on Thursday (August 13) by Md Saiful Islam, director of operations at the National Identity Registration Division.

The circular said officials must follow the existing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) when accepting educational certificates and other supporting documents. It also made it mandatory for officials to record the reasons or relevant notes in the Central Management System (CMS) when approving or rejecting an NID application electronically.

The EC has also strengthened oversight of the correction process at the field level. Regional election officers and additional regional election officers have been instructed to regularly monitor the work carried out by officials under their supervision.

As part of the monitoring process, at least three applications handled by each authorised officer must be randomly selected and reviewed every month to determine whether they were processed correctly. A report must then be prepared in a prescribed format and sent to the director (operations) through the designated internal account.

However, certain applications will continue to require approval at the highest level. Applications seeking a date-of-birth correction based on an Open University certificate, as well as applications involving a complete change of the applicant’s own name along with both parents’ names, can only be settled at the director general level.

The circular also imposed a stricter restriction on major identity changes. If a citizen completely changes their date of birth, own name and both parents’ names, the same field cannot be corrected for a second time.

The National Identity Registration Division has instructed all relevant officials to follow the new guidelines and take the necessary steps accordingly.