Bangladesh Election: 740,000 registered for postal voting

NN ONLINE:

Some 740,000 voters, including more than 534,000 expatriates from different countries across the world, have been registered to vote through postal ballots in the national election scheduled for February 12, 2026.

The Election Commission (EC) opened the ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app for the Out-of-Country Voting (OCV) on November 19 and for the In-Country Postal Voting (ICPV) on December 17.

“The ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app will remain open for the registration of all entitled voters till December 31,” said Director (Public Relation) at the Election Commission Secretariat Ruhul Amin Mollik on Thursday. Though the postal balloting system has been in the laws for a long time, it was never practiced in the previous elections.

This is the first time the Election Commission has introduced an effective IT-supported hybrid postal balloting system, enabling expatriates, government staff who are posted outside their respective constituencies, polling personnel, and the persons who will be in the legal custody to exercise their franchise through a combination of digital registration and manual voting. As of 7:05pm on Thursday, a total 740,412 voters were registered to vote through postal ballots in the February-12 elections. Among them, 205,942 voters were registered from Bangladesh, while 534,470 expatriates from different countries across the world.

Among the expatriate registrants, the highest number came from the Saudi Arabia (155,535) followed by Qatar (57,521), Oman (43,484), Malaysia (41,469), UAE (30,713), USA (25,557), Kuwait (22,975), UK (21,299), Singapore (17,471), Italy (15,232), Canada (11,990), Bahrain (11,422), South Korea (10,159), Australia (9,405), Japan (7,475), Maldives (6,968),  France (5,783), Portugal (5,320), South Africa (5,110) and Germany (4,392), Spain (2,532), China (1,905), Finland (1,713), Poland (1,617), Brunei (1,317), Sweden (1,229) and Irelands (1,137).

Among the registered ones, the highest 67,555 will vote in Cumilla district, while 59,891 in Dhaka district, 58,891 in Chattogram, 38,624 in Noakhali, 28,472 in Sylhet, 26,748 in Chandpur, 26,195 in Feni, 22,497 in Brahmanbaria, 20,553 in Lakshmipur and 18,847 in Cox’s Bazar.

In terms of parliamentary seats, the highest 10,960 registered ones will vote in Feni-3 constituency, while 9,479 in Chattogram-15 constituency, 9,025 in Cumilla-10 constituency, 8,925 in Noakhali-1 constituency and 8,453 in Noakhali-3 constituency.

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on December 11 last announced the schedule to arrange the 13th parliamentary election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order simultaneously on February 12 next.

According to the election schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination paper is December 29, while the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is January 20. The election campaign will start on January 22 and continue till 48 hours before the balloting period (7:30am on February 10).