Dhaka: A total of 471,957 postal ballots from expatriate voters registered through the "Postal Vote BD" app have successfully reached Bangladesh. These ballots are set to play a crucial role in the upcoming 13th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) elections and referendum.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Salim Ahmad Khan, the Team Leader of the OCV-SDI project on expatriate voter registration, shared the latest updates this morning. He reported that by 10 am, 766,862 ballots have been dispatched to expatriates who registered using the app. Out of these, 528,233 expatriates have received their ballots, with 512,916 already having cast their votes.
Additionally, 502,487 expatriate voters have submitted their ballots to the respective countries' post offices or postal departments. Returning officers have so far received 419,919 of these ballots.
In tandem with the efforts abroad, the Election Commission (EC) has been distributing postal ballots to voters residing within Bangladesh under the ICPV initiative. To date, ballots have been sent to 760,898 registered voters within the country.
The latest EC data reveals that as of 10 am today, 580,841 domestic voters have received their ballots. Of them, 534,376 have cast their votes, and 500,408 have submitted their ballots to post offices or mailboxes. So far, returning officers have received 310,154 of these ballots.
Salim Ahmad Khan highlighted that a total of 1,533,684 voters, both at home and abroad, have registered through the app to participate in the JS elections and referendum via postal ballot.