Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the distribution of smart National Identity (NID) cards on 3 October, said the Election Commission (EC).

The smart NID cards distribution in Dhaka Metropolitan city and Kurigram’s Roumari char will begin on 4 October, said EC Secretariat Mohammad Sirajul Islam after holding a meeting on the preparation of smart NID cards distribution on Monday.

Earlier, EC signed a contract with a French company for manufacturing and distributing nine crore smartcards.

Sirajul Islam said a total of 1,500 officials in 75 teams will work in smart NID distribution programme. A camp will work for each of the 97 wards. Sirajul Islam said the preparation for upazila server stations has already been taken. After the installation of necessary machinery, the voters will get their smart cards in their respective areas.

Before receiving their smart NID cards, the nationals have to return their previously issued laminated NID cards and give their fingerprints and iris scan for verification.

The EC will hand over smart NID cards to around 9.62 crore voters of the country by December 2017.

Rest of the voters will get their smart cards through another project, said the EC secretary.

Before making smart cards chances are given to all to correct mistakes in NIDs. To correct any information in NID, one could collect prescribed forms from thana or upazila election office and apply for the correction by 3 October, said the EC.

To maintain security of smartcards, 25 international certifications and standards have been ensured.

Though there is a tendency of forging the existing NIDs, it would not be possible to forge the smartcards.

The microchips in smartcards will contain all information of a citizen.

All online government facilities, including applying for jobs online, opening bank accounts, making passports and e-governance, could be availed through the smartcards.