Dhaka: More than 4.25 lakh expatriate Bangladeshis residing across the globe have participated in the upcoming national election and referendum slated for February 12.
According to United News of Bangladesh, Brig Gen (retd) Saleem Ahmad Khan, Team Leader of the Election Commission’s OCV-ICPV project, reported that as of 10:30 am on Tuesday, a total of 425,788 expatriate voters had completed their voting process. Of these, 370,322 ballot papers have been deposited in post offices and post boxes worldwide.
The Election Commission has dispatched 766,862 postal ballots to various global destinations for Out-of-Country Voting (OCV), with 493,920 ballots already received by registered expatriates. Additionally, 21,508 returned ballots have been received by the Commission as of Tuesday morning.
The Commission has also distributed 63,600 ballots to 18 districts under the In-Country Postal Voting (ICPV) system since Monday. This initiative is part of the IT-supported hybrid postal balloting system implemented by the Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, combining digital registration and manual balloting for expatriates in over 120 countries.
The new postal balloting system is also employed for government employees working outside their constituencies, polling personnel, and individuals in legal custody within Bangladesh. A total of 1,533,684 voters registered for the postal ballots under the OCV and ICPV systems, comprising 772,542 expatriates and 761,142 government employees, polling personnel, and prisoners.
Among the expatriate registrants, the highest numbers are from Saudi Arabia (239,186), Malaysia (84,292), Qatar (76,139), and several other countries. Inside Bangladesh, 575,200 registrants are government employees, with others including election duty officers, Ansar and VDP members, and prisoners.
The Election Commission announced on December 11 that the 13th parliament election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order will occur simultaneously on February 12.