Over 6.77 Lakh Postal Ballots Sent to Expatriate Voters for National Polls

Postal ballots have so far been sent to 677,233 expatriate voters living across different countries to enable them to vote in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad election and referendum, officials said.

Salim Ahmad Khan, team leader of the Out of Country Voting System and Implementation (OCV-SDI) project, disclosed the information while speaking to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha. He said efforts are underway to ensure all postal ballots reach expatriate voters by January 10.

According to the Election Commission, a total of 1,533,683 voters have registered through the Postal Vote BD app to cast their votes by postal ballot. Among them, 761,141 voters registered under the in-country postal vote category, while 772,542 expatriates registered from countries around the world.

Salim Ahmad Khan said the allocation of electoral symbols is scheduled for January 21, expressing optimism that overseas voters would receive their ballots before then.

Addressing concerns over ballot secrecy, he said maintaining confidentiality is the responsibility of the voters themselves. He warned that national identity cards (NIDs) of voters found violating ballot secrecy could be blocked.

Election Commission sources said that 41,464 postal ballots were dispatched to expatriate voters on Tuesday evening alone. Of these, the highest number - 17,759 ballots - were sent to Singapore, followed by 12,000 ballots sent to Saudi Arabia.

Officials said overseas postal voting is a key initiative aimed at expanding democratic participation among expatriate Bangladeshis ahead of the upcoming national polls.