Postal ballot registration opens for Bangladeshi expats

Bangla Press Desk:   With the 13th National Parliamentary Election approaching, registration has begun for Bangladeshi voters living abroad to cast their votes through IT-supported postal ballots.

To facilitate this, the Election Commission (EC) has issued a circular outlining the rules for postal voting. It states that simply casting a postal vote will not be enough — voters must also sign a declaration form. Otherwise, the vote will be considered invalid.

These details were confirmed in a circular signed by Md Monir Hossain, deputy secretary of the Election Commission. The document explains the full procedure for postal voting.

Registration process for voters

• During registration, expatriate voters must use a mobile number from the country from which they intend to cast their vote.

• They must download and install the “Postal Vote BD” mobile app from the Google Play Store or App Store to receive the postal ballot and cast their vote.

• Users may select either Bangla or English language and review the required documents and instructions within the app.

• Applicants will complete registration as per the rules; OTP, liveliness checks and NID verification will be required.

• A precise overseas address must be provided to ensure the correct delivery of the ballot.

What the returning officer’s parcel will contain

The EC will send ballot papers consecutively to all voters registered on the “Postal Vote BD” app. Within the designated timeframe, voters will receive an envelope containing the postal ballot.

Upon receiving the envelope, voters must log in to the “Postal Vote BD” app and scan the QR code printed on the envelope, allowing the system to verify the ballot paper.

Voters will receive, inside the outer envelope sent by the Election Commission, an inner envelope containing the postal ballot paper, a separate sheet with voting instructions on one side and a declaration form on the other, and a return envelope printed with the address of the returning officer for the relevant constituency.

Casting the postal vote and sending it back

• The postal ballot paper will contain all election symbols, each with an empty box beside it. Before casting their vote, voters must read the instructions and correctly fill in the declaration form, including the ballot paper’s serial number, the voter’s name and their National Identity Card number, and then sign in the designated space.

Illiterate or disabled voters may complete the required section with the help of another valid voter, who must authenticate it with a signature. Without this declaration or attestation (where applicable), the ballot paper will not be considered valid.

• Once the symbol allocation is completed, voters will be informed via the app or the Election Commission’s website. To cast their vote, voters must log into the Postal Vote BD mobile app, view the list of candidates for the relevant constituency and mark the empty box beside the chosen symbol printed on the ballot paper with a tick (✓) or a cross (×), following the instructions. The app will provide a video tutorial or digital content on the voting process.

• After marking the ballot paper, voters must place only the ballot paper inside the smaller envelope and seal it. That envelope, along with the signed declaration form, must then be placed inside the return envelope printed with the returning officer’s address, sealed, and sent promptly by post.

• Both envelopes will be self-adhesive, so they can be sealed simply by removing the protective strip. Voters will not need to pay any postal charges; these will be covered by the government. Only postal ballots received before counting begins will be included in the vote tally.

• From the moment the postal ballot is dispatched centrally by the Election Commission until it is returned to the returning officer, every stage of its movement can be tracked through the mobile app. Voters will also be able to monitor the status of their own ballot using the Postal Vote BD mobile app on their phones.

Receiving and storing ballots by the returning officer

After receiving the postal ballot envelopes by post, the returning officer will scan the QR codes printed on them to record receipt, using a software-generated list of distributed and received postal ballots. The returning officer will sign this software-generated form.

Envelopes containing declaration forms without proper signatures — or ballots with no declaration form at all — will be set aside as cancelled or invalid. Envelopes containing correctly signed declaration forms will be stored separately in a designated box for counting, specific to the relevant constituency.

A counting room will be prepared at the returning officer’s office for the counting of postal ballots. During the counting process, candidates, election agents, candidates’ representatives, journalists and observers will be allowed to be present under the same rules that apply at other polling centres.

Once logged into the software developed for postal voting, the returning officer will be able to view an overall summary of the votes cast via postal ballots for the relevant parliamentary constituency.

Counting procedure

• The returning officer will open the boxes containing the ballot envelopes for counting and remove each ballot paper from its envelope one by one. Valid ballot papers will be sorted by candidate and counted.

• Any postal ballots where the voter’s choice in favour of a candidate cannot be clearly determined will be set aside as invalid/rejected ballots.

• The results obtained will be recorded in the same manner as at regular polling centres, and copies will be published.

• If any postal ballot envelopes arrive after the deadline, the returning officer or authorized official will record the date and time of receipt, sign to acknowledge them, and make the quantity public.

Once the postal ballot counting is completed, assistant returning officers will announce the results alongside the general polling centre results. The postal ballot votes will then be consolidated with the other centres’ results to declare the final outcome. The final result cannot be published without incorporating the postal ballot votes.

BP/SP