OTP glitch halts NID services nationwide

National Identity Card (NID) services have been temporarily suspended across Bangladesh due to a failure in the delivery of One-Time Passwords (OTP) required to access the NID server.

While institutions that receive NID services have not faced disruptions, Election Commission (EC) officials are currently unable to provide services.

ASM Humayun Kabir, director general of the Election Commission's National Identity Registration Division, confirmed the OTP-related issue with the NID system around 12:30pm.

"To log in to our server, a user ID and password are required, followed by a OTP. However, the OTP is not being delivered at the moment. As a result, officials and staff are unable to access the server, and NID services remain suspended," Humayun said.

He also said, "The OTP service used for operating the NID system, has encountered an issue in the service provider's system. Activities such as taking photographs and collecting biometrics are still ongoing. Once the OTP issue is resolved, all operations will resume."

"Our server is not down. We have purchased an OTP service to operate NID activities, and the issue lies within the system of the provider from whom we procured the service. They are currently working to fix it. Once repaired, the system will be back up and running," he added.

Currently, the NID database contains information on 125 million citizens. A total of 186 government and private organisations receive NID services from the EC.

Around 1:00pm, Muhammad Ashraf Hossain, system manager of the EC's NID Wing, said, "The OTP service issue is expected to be resolved within a couple of hours."