Postal ballots from expatriates have started arriving in Bangladesh ahead of the 13th parliamentary election and referendum. Bangladeshi nationals living abroad registered for postal voting through the official “Postal Vote BD” mobile application.
Out of Country Voting System Development & Implementation (OCV-SDI) Project Team Leader Salim Ahmad Khan, overseeing expatriate voter registration, provided the details on Saturday. A total of 1,44,869 postal votes from expatriates had been received so far.
He provided further details, stating that authorities had dispatched 7,66,862 ballot papers to overseas voters. Of these, 5,18,763 voters had received their papers. A total of 4,58,764 expatriates had cast their votes, with 4,12,039 having submitted their completed ballots to designated post offices or letter boxes abroad.
On the other hand, due to address complications, 12,140 postal ballots could not be delivered in various countries and have consequently been returned.
A total of 7,61,142 voters registered from within the country through the app. Among them, 6,240 voters are in legal custody. The distribution of postal ballots to election officials and employees on duty within the country, as well as to voters in legal custody, began on 26 January.
In the meantime, the postal voting process has also commenced from within the country. Ballots have been sent to 5,18,603 voters from among those who applied to vote by postal ballot internally.
Of these, 7,367 voters have received their ballots. Among them, 4,902 voters have cast their votes via postal ballot, and 2,394 voters have submitted their voted ballots to various post offices across the country.
Salim Ahmad Khan added that a combined total of 15,33,684 voters, both at home and abroad, registered through the app.
