Almost 380,000 postal ballots cast by expatriate Bangladeshi voters have reached the country ahead of the upcoming 13th Jatiya Sangsad election and referendum, election officials have said.
According to the Election Commission’s Overseas and Constituency Voting under Special Digital Initiative (OCV-SDI), a total of 379,924 ballots sent by expatriates registered through the “Postal Vote BD” mobile application have so far arrived in Bangladesh.
Salim Ahmad Khan, project team leader for expatriate voter registration under OCV-SDI, said on Thursday that the ballots were received as part of the ongoing postal voting process for Bangladeshis living abroad.
He said that as of 9:30am on Thursday, election authorities had dispatched 766,862 ballot papers to expatriate voters who registered via the app. Of those, 526,008 voters have confirmed receipt of their ballots, while 480,416 have already cast their votes.
Election data show that 444,952 overseas voters have submitted their completed ballots to postal services in their respective countries. So far, returning officers in Bangladesh have officially received 107,168 of those ballots.
The Election Commission has also extended postal voting to voters residing inside the country under the Inland Constituency Postal Voting (ICPV) system. Ballot papers have been sent to the registered addresses of 662,191 domestic voters.
According to the latest figures, 260,447 voters within Bangladesh have received their ballots. Of them, 211,122 have cast their votes, while 168,519 have submitted their ballots to post offices or designated mailboxes. Returning officers have so far received 27,367 domestic postal ballots.
Salim Ahmad said that a total of 1,533,684 voters at home and abroad registered through the “Postal Vote BD” application to take part in the postal voting process for the 13th parliamentary election and the accompanying referendum.
Election officials say the postal voting system is being closely monitored to ensure transparency and timely delivery as Bangladesh prepares for one of its largest electoral exercises.
