Postal Poll Progress as Over 3 Lakh Overseas Ballots Reach Returning Officers
The Election Commission (EC) has said that nearly over 300,000 IT-supported postal ballots sent by expatriate voters for the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election and Referendum have been forwarded to the offices of the respective Returning Officers.
The information was disclosed on Sunday, February 8, by Salim Ahmad Khan, Team Leader of the expatriate voter registration–related OCV-SDI project.
According to EC sources, a total of 766,862 postal ballots were sent to expatriate voters in different countries. Of these, 527,450 postal ballots were received by expatriates. Among them, 503,441 expatriate voters cast their votes through postal ballots, and 484,765 voters submitted their completed ballots to post offices for return to Bangladesh.
So far, 428,828 postal ballots have arrived in Bangladesh, out of which the EC has completed sending 318,125 ballots to the offices of the respective Returning Officers.
The EC further said that 760,898 ballots were sent to voters residing within the country. Among them, 443,542 voters received the ballots. A total of 388,898 voters cast their votes and deposited their ballots at post offices. Of these, 152,077 ballots have so far been received by the Returning Officers.
The Election Commission added that voting will be held on February 12, from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.
DBTech/EK/SM/OR
