Expatriate Voting: 21,508 ballots arrive in Bangladesh

Bangla Press Desk:   A total of 21,508 postal ballots from overseas have so far reached Bangladesh, the Election Commission (EC) has said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the EC said ballots were sent to the registered addresses of 766,862 expatriate voters who enrolled through the Postal Vote BD mobile app. Of them, 493,920 voters have received their ballots.

According to the commission, 425,788 expatriate voters have completed voting, while 370,322 have submitted their ballots to post offices or mailboxes in their respective countries. Of these, 21,508 ballots have already arrived in Bangladesh.

Salim Ahmad Khan, team leader of the OCV-SDI project on expatriate voter registration, said that a total of 1,533,683 voters — both at home and abroad — registered to vote in the 13th parliamentary election and referendum through the Postal Vote BD app.

The Election Commission noted that ballots must reach the returning officer by 4:30pm on 12 February, failing which they will be considered invalid.

BP/TD