Postal ballots of over 460,000 expatriate arrive ahead of polls

Over 460,480 postal ballots sent by expatriate voters have arrived in Bangladesh ahead of the 13th National Parliament Election and Referendum slated for 12 February, according to officials involved in the overseas voting initiative.

Salim Ahmad Khan, team leader of the OCV-SDI project on expatriate voter registration, said that a total of 766,862 postal ballots had been dispatched to expatriates, who registered through the “Postal Vote BD” app, as of 10am on Monday.

Of these, 527,824 expatriates have already received their ballots, while 577,750 voters have completed the voting process.

Additionally, 491,682 expatriate voters have submitted their ballots to postal authorities in their respective countries. So far, 355,431 ballots from expatriates have been received by returning officers in Bangladesh.

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Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has also begun sending postal ballots to in-country postal voters (ICPV). Ballots have been dispatched to 760,898 registered voters residing within the country.

According to the latest EC data, 528,156 domestic voters had received their ballots by 10:00am on Monday. Among them, 473,144 voters have cast their votes, and 429,882 ballots have been submitted through post offices or mailboxes. Returning officers have so far received 215,850 domestic postal ballots.

Salim further stated that a total of 1,533,684 voters, both at home and abroad, have registered through the “Postal Vote BD” app to participate in the upcoming election and referendum via postal voting.

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