NID correction backlog tops 1.17 lakh

• Nearly 92% filed this year
• 69,252 complex cases await DG’s approval
• Aug, Sept account for 38.5% of backlog
• EC cites changes, verification difficulties

More than 1.17 lakh National Identity Card (NID) correction applications remained pending with the Election Commission (EC) as of October 18, with nearly 92 percent filed this year.

Of the 1,17,666 pending applications, 69,252 were under the Gha category, which involves changes to personal information and requires approval from the director general of the EC’s NID wing.

According to an EC report dated October 18, the commission has processed 64,35,397 correction applications across six categories.

The Gha category accounted for nearly 59 percent of the backlog, while 1,08,225 applications under this category had been processed.

The EC classifies correction requests into six categories: Ka, Ka1, Kha, Kha1, Ga and Gha.

Ka covers minor name corrections, including spelling errors; Kha covers changes to photographs, signatures and other information; Ga involves major changes to names or parents’ names; and Gha covers corrections to key information, including dates of birth, age and parents’ names. Ka1 and Kha1 cover minor corrections and spelling errors.

After Gha, the highest number of pending applications was under Kha, with 17,681 cases, followed by Ga with 15,422, Ka with 11,191, Kha1 with 3,192 and Ka1 with 928.

Category Ka had the highest number of processed applications, at 42,13,390, followed by Kha with 12,56,040 and Ga with 5,96,746.

Of the pending applications, 108,188 were filed between January and September this year, while 9,025 were from 2025, 171 from 2024 and 282 from 2023 or earlier.

Dhaka had the highest number of pending Gha applications, at 10,615, followed by Chattogram with 10,559 and Mymensingh with 8,332. Barishal had the lowest.

The Gha category, often dubbed the “ICU” category because of its complexity, is handled by the NID director general, while other categories are dealt with by election officers at different levels.

Asked about the backlog, NID Director General Abul Hasnat Muhammad Anwar Pasha said, “Behind every application lies a significant story. In many of these cases, applicants are seeking fundamental changes to their information. A large share of these correction requests appears to be driven by ill intent. Even so, we are trying to resolve them.” 

Abdullah Al Amin, a private company employee, recently faced difficulties correcting the permanent addresses on his parents’ NIDs.

The applications were approved one month and five days after submission, following visits to the Sabujbagh Election Office.

“We had to visit the Sabujbagh Election Office twice to correct the error. The applications then remained pending for a long time because they had not been assigned a category. Through a personal contact, we managed to expedite the correction, and it was eventually made,” he said.

EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said four out of every five correction applications submitted to him fell under the Gha category.

He said such requests involved fundamental changes to personal information, while supporting documents often complicated verification.

“In some cases, the revised information would indicate that a child was born one and a half years after the father’s death. Applications involving such inconsistencies pose challenges for us,” he said.

Bangladesh currently has 12,83,23,240 registered voters, including 6,52,12,731 men, 6,31,09,266 women and 1,243 hijra voters.