Jatiya Sangsad polls: 15.33 lakh voters opt for postal ballots
A total of 15,33,682 voters have registered through the "Postal Vote BD" app to cast their votes by postal ballot in the upcoming 13th Jatiya Sangsad Election and the Referendum.
According to the Election Commission (EC), the registration process through the app concluded at midnight on Monday, which began on November 18 last year. Data available on the EC website show that the registrations were completed within the stipulated time announced by the commission.
Of the registered voters, 12,81,434 are male while 252,246 are female.
Among expatriate voters, the highest number of registrations came from Saudi Arabia with 239,186 voters. Malaysia followed with 84,292 registrants, while 76,139 registered from Qatar and 56,207 from Oman.
Under the "in-country postal vote" category, 761,140 voters have registered from within the country.
District-wise, Cumilla topped the list with 112,090 registered voters, followed by Dhaka with 108,755 and Chattogram with 95,297 voters.
Besides, in constituency-wise registration, Feni-3 ranked highest with 16,093 registered voters, followed by Chattogram-15 with 14,301.
EC sources said that postal ballots have been sent over the past 16 days to 635,769 expatriate voters residing in at least 81 countries across the world. Among them, the highest number of ballots, 207,943, were sent to expatriate voters in Saudi Arabia.
Team Leader of the Out of Country Voting System and Implementation (OCV-SDI) project Salim Ahmad Khan told BSS today that the registration period through the app will not be extended.
He said the commission has received a strong response and the postal ballots sent to expatriate voters are expected to reach them by January 10.
Mentioning that maintaining the secrecy of the ballot is the responsibility of the voter, he warned that national identity cards (NID) could be blocked if ballot secrecy is violated.
He added that addresses of around 10,000 voters were found to be incorrect and text messages have been sent to them requesting submission of correct addresses.
In addition to expatriate Bangladeshi voters, election duty officials and employees as well as government employees staying outside their home constituencies due to workplace postings have also registered through the "Postal Vote BD" app.
Launched on November 18, the app allowed expatriates in 148 countries to register using mobile numbers of their respective host countries. Voters in legal custody are also eligible to register through this process.
