11 lakh voters register to vote by post

A total of 1,125,263 voters have registered so far to cast postal votes in the 13th National Parliament Election and Referendum. 

In addition to expatriate Bangladeshis, officials and employees assigned to election duties and government employees stationed outside their localities are registering through the "Postal Vote BD" app.

According to the latest information on the Election Commission (EC) website as of noon today (31 December), a total of 1,125,263 voters have registered. Among the registered voters, 980,424 are male voters and 144,837 are female.

Among the expatriate voters, 197,120 people have registered in Saudi Arabia, which is the highest.

In addition, 68,668 people have registered in Qatar, 63,083 in Malaysia, 50,039 in Oman, and 31,555 in the United Arab Emirates. Within the country, 471,784 voters have registered in the "in-country postal vote" category. Among the districts, Cumilla is at the top with 88,682 people, followed by Dhaka with 82,185 and Chattogram with 75,589. 

Among the constituencies, Feni-3 has the highest number of registered voters, followed by Chattogram-15 with 11,589 and Noakhali-1 with 11,476 voters.

On the other hand, postal ballots have been sent to 445,725 expatriate voters in different countries of the world in the last 12 days to vote in the 13th National Parliament Election and Referendum. 

Salim Ahmad Khan, team leader of the Out of Country Voting System and Implementation (OCV-SDI) Project for Expatriate Voter Registration, confirmed to BSS that these postal ballots were sent to expatriate voters in different countries of the world till Tuesday.

According to the Election Commission, postal ballots were sent to 27,442 expatriates in different countries of the world on Tuesday alone. 

The Election Commission (EC) has extended the registration period for expatriate voters, government employees, persons engaged in election duties, and voters in legal custody through the "Postal Vote BD" app to exercise their voting rights in the 13th National Parliament Election and Referendum till January 5.

EC Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed provided this information on Tuesday. 

He said, "We have extended the registration period for expatriate and domestic voters of three categories through the Postal Vote BD app until December 31. Those who have not been able to register yet, both at home and abroad, have repeatedly requested an extension of the registration period. Considering that, the commission has decided that the registration will continue till January 5."

Launched on November 18, the app will allow expatriates from 148 countries to register.  

To register, expatriate voters must use a mobile number from the respective country.