Postal Vote BD Push: Probashee Polling Prepared for Premiere
Election Commissioner Brigadier General (Retd.) Abul Fazal Md. Sanaullah has announced that the expatriate voter registration app “Postal Vote BD” will be inaugurated on Tuesday, 18 November. Through this, for the first time, AMM Nasir Uddin’s Election Commission will enable IT-supported postal balloting.
He shared this information on Monday, 17 November, during his concluding remarks at the third day of dialogues with registered political parties on the 13th National Parliamentary Election, held at the conference room of the Election Building in Agargaon, Dhaka.
EC Sanaullah said, “Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will inaugurate the Out-of-Country Voting App for expatriate Bangladeshis. This is the registration gateway for those wishing to vote from abroad. Considering global time zones for the convenience of expatriates, we will launch this Out-of-Country Voting App tomorrow evening.”
He added, “If our expatriate population is around 14 million, that would be 7–8% of our total population. Compared to other countries, our number of overseas voters would be significantly large.”
He urged political parties to encourage expatriate citizens to register as voters.
In this regard, Md. Ruhul Amin Mallik, Director (Public Relations) and spokesperson of the EC Secretariat, told the media that Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin will inaugurate the “Postal Vote BD” mobile app at 6 pm on 18 November at the Election Building auditorium for expatriate Bangladeshis to register as voters.
With this system, the country’s “remittance warriors” will, for the first time, be able to cast votes in the upcoming national election. Once voter registration is completed in the app, the ballot paper will be sent directly to the voter.
Regarding the process, EC Additional Secretary KM Ali Newaz said that ballot papers will be sent only to the addresses of expatriate voters registered through the EC app. After electoral symbols are finalized, expatriate voters will see their candidates in the app, cast their vote on the ballot, and send it back to Bangladesh.
According to sources, during the app’s inauguration ceremony, the Team Leader of the Out-of-Country Voting System Development and Implementation (OCV-SDI) Project will present an overview of the system. Then an Election Commissioner will speak on IT-supported postal voting. The CEC will officially open the app. Representatives from all embassies and missions abroad, organizations of expatriate Bangladeshis, all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners, regional election officers, and senior/district election officers will join the event online.
From sending ballots abroad to receiving them back at the Returning Officer’s office after casting, the entire responsibility will be handled by the Bangladesh Postal Department. The Election Commission says the cost per voter will be only 700 taka.
To register for overseas voting using the app, each voter must have an international SIM card.
At the same time, due to geo-location being active in the app, it cannot be used from within Bangladesh, said retired Brigadier General Salim Ahmad Khan, Team Leader of the EC’s expatriate voter project.
The Election Commission (EC) has indicated an initial plan to allow three to four weeks for expatriates to register via the “Postal Vote BD” app, depending on region. Postal ballots will be sent to registered overseas voters after the announcement of the election schedule. Those inside Bangladesh who wish to vote through this method will have to wait for ballot papers until the distribution of electoral symbols. The EC is expected to announce the election schedule early next month, targeting polling in the first half of February.
DBTech/Jenny/BD/OR
