NN ONLINE:
The Election Commission (EC) has extended the deadline by seven days for expatriate Bangladeshis to register through the ‘Postal Vote BD’ app to cast their ballots in the upcoming national election and referendum to be held in early February 2026.
“The deadline for ‘out-of-country voting’ (voter registration) has been extended. Earlier, the deadline was till December 18. But it has been extended till midnight of December 25 (BST),” said EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed at a press briefing in the city’s Nirbachan Bhaban on Monday.
The EC secretary said the registration process is currently open 24 hours a day for the expatriates and they can apply online anytime from anywhere in the world. “Those who have already registered are regularly able to see their application and registration status on our progress screen,” he said.
Akhtar Ahmed said some technical glitches had been reported in certain regions, but those issues have now been resolved. “As a result, anyone living abroad can complete their registration online from any country,” he added. About In-Country Postal Voting (ICPV), Akhtar Ahmed said the ICPV registration process will begin for a 15-day period after the election schedule is announced.
More than 123,000 expatriate voters from different countries across the world have so far registered in the past 12 days to vote through the postal ballots to vote in the 13th parliamentary election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Reform Charter).
As of 5:15pm on Monday, a total of 123, 160 expatriate voters had registered through the ‘Postal Vote BD’ app. Of them, 106,606 are male voters and 16,174 are female voters.
Among the registrants, the highest number came from the USA (18,114), followed by Saudi Arabia (10,854), South Korea (9,389), Singapore (8,780), Canada (8,610), Australia (7,480), the UK (7,018), Japan (6,798), Italy (5,227), South Africa (4,726) and Malaysia (3,851).
Among the registered expats, the highest 21,446 will vote in Dhaka district from abroad, while 10,799 in Cumilla, 8,266 in Chattogram, 8,202 in Sylhet, 7,438 in Noakhali, 4,015 in Feni, 3,648 in Chandpur, 3,296 in Brahmanbaria, 3,282 in Munshiganj and 3,094 in Moulvibazar district.
In terms of constituencies, the highest 2,800 registered expats will vote in Sylhet-1 constituency, while 2,301 in Noakhali-1 constituency, 2,107 in Dhaka-18 constituency, 2,103 in Sylhet-6 constituency, 1,758 in Dhaka-10 constituency, 1,742 in Noakhali-3 constituency, 1,688 in Dhaka-13 constituency, 1,673 in Feni-3 constituency, 1,670 in Dhaka-8 constituency and 1,537 in Noakhali-5 constituency.
The Election Commission on November 18 launched the ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app for expatriate voters living in a total of 143 countries throughout the world.
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 is introducing a hybrid postal balloting system, enabling expatriates, government staff, polling personnel and inmates to exercise their franchise through a combination of digital registration and manual voting.
The EC has targeted some 5 million expatriate Bangladeshis living in 143 countries to bring them under this IT-supported postal voting mechanism.
