More than 3.79 lakh postal ballots cast by expatriate voters have so far reached Bangladesh ahead of the 13th national election and referendum.
A total of 3,79,924 ballots sent by overseas voters registered through the Postal Vote BD app have arrived in the country, according to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
Salim Ahmad Khan, project team leader of the OCV-SDI expatriate voter registration programme, told BSS on Wednesday that the ballots were received as part of the ongoing postal voting process for non-resident Bangladeshis.
He said that by 9:30 am on Wednesday, election authorities had dispatched 7.66 lakh ballots to expatriates registered through the app. Of them, 5.26 lakh voters had received their ballots, while 4.80 lakh had already cast their votes.
He added that 4.44 lakh expatriate voters had submitted their completed ballots to post offices or postal authorities in their respective countries. Returning officers in Bangladesh have so far received 1.07 lakh of those ballots.
Alongside overseas voting, the Election Commission has also begun issuing postal ballots to voters living inside the country under the ICPV system.
So far, ballots have been sent to 6.62 lakh registered voters within Bangladesh. According to the latest Election Commission data, 2.60 lakh of them have received their ballots. Among these voters, 2.11 lakh have cast their votes and 1.68 lakh have submitted their ballots to post offices or mailboxes. Returning officers have received 27,367 ballots from domestic voters to date.
Salim Ahmad Khan said a total of 15.33 lakh voters at home and abroad have registered through the app to vote by postal ballot in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad election and the referendum.
