More than one million eligible voters including some 620,000 expatriates registered their names to vote through the postal ballots in the upcoming national election and the referendum, scheduled to be held simultaneously on February 12, 2026.
A total of 10,12,354 voters –894,997 males and 117,355 females- registered through the ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app till 10:38am on Tuesday, a day before the registration deadline will expire on December 31.
Among them, 619,922 expatriate Bangladeshis are keen to vote from around 140 countries across the world under the EC’s Out-of-Country Voting (OCV) programme.
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Besides, 392,402 eligible voters are interested to vote through the postal ballot from inside the country under the EC’s In-Country Postal Voting (ICPV) programme.
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.
The Election Commission 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.
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Among the 560,000 expatriate registrant, the highest number came from the Saudi Arabia (186,356) followed by Qatar (66,089), Malaysia (55,926), Oman (47,402), UAE (31,337), Kuwait (28,271), USA (27,668), UK (25,317), Italy (18,069), Singapore (17,691), Bahrain (14,767), Canada (13,138), South Korea (10,667), Australia (9,990), Japan (8,032), Maldives (7,755), France (6,929), Portugal (6,329), South Africa (5,188), Germany (4,978), Spain (2,945), China (1,913), Finland (1,907), Poland (1,806), Brunei (1,456), Sweden (1,421), Ireland (1,312) and Denmark (1042).
Among the registered ones, the highest 82,850 will vote in Cumilla district, while 76,019 in Dhaka district, 70,993 in Chattogram, 47,165 in Noakhali, 34,777 in Sylhet, 34,752 in Chandpur, 33,291 in Feni, 28,381 in Brahmanbaria, 28,370 in Tangail and 25,331 in Lakshmipur.
In terms of parliamentary seats, the highest 13,541 registered ones will vote in Feni-3 constituency, while 10,969 in Chattogram-15 constituency, 10,869 in Noakhali-1 constituency, 10,778 in Cumilla-10 constituency, 10,568 in Feni-2 constituency and 10,030 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 papers was 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).
A total of 2,570 candidates submitted nomination papers to contest from the country's 300 parliamentary constituencies in the February-12 election.