Over 1 Million Voters Register for Postal Ballots in Bangladesh

More than one million eligible voters, including around 620,000 expatriates, have registered to vote through postal ballots in the upcoming national election and simultaneous referendum, scheduled for February 12, 2026.

A total of 1,012,354 voters – 894,997 males and 117,355 females – registered through the ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app as of 10:38am on Tuesday, a day before the registration deadline expires on December 31.

Among them, 619,922 expatriates from approximately 140 countries registered under the Election Commission’s Out-of-Country Voting (OCV) programme. Additionally, 392,402 eligible voters inside Bangladesh enrolled through the In-Country Postal Voting (ICPV) system.

Although postal balloting has been included in the laws for years, it was never implemented in previous elections. This is the first time the Election Commission has introduced an IT-supported hybrid postal balloting system, enabling expatriates, government staff posted outside their constituencies, polling personnel, and those in legal custody to cast their votes via digital registration combined with manual voting.

The EC opened the ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app for OCV on November 19 and for ICPV on December 17.

Among expatriates, the highest numbers registered from Saudi Arabia (186,356), Qatar (66,089), Malaysia (55,926), Oman (47,402), UAE (31,337), and Kuwait (28,271), followed by the USA, UK, Italy, Singapore, Bahrain, Canada, and other countries.

Inside Bangladesh, the highest numbers of registered postal voters are in Cumilla (82,850), Dhaka (76,019), Chattogram (70,993), Noakhali (47,165), Sylhet (34,777), Chandpur (34,752), Feni (33,291), Brahmanbaria (28,381), Tangail (28,370), and Lakshmipur (25,331).

By parliamentary constituencies, Feni-3 has the highest registered postal voters (13,541), followed by Chattogram-15 (10,969), Noakhali-1 (10,869), Cumilla-10 (10,778), Feni-2 (10,568), and Noakhali-3 (10,030).

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin announced on December 11 that the 13th parliamentary election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order will be held simultaneously on February 12.

According to the schedule, nomination papers had to be submitted by December 29, with the withdrawal deadline on January 20. The election campaign will run from January 22 until 48 hours before voting begins at 7:30am on February 10.

A total of 2,570 candidates submitted nomination papers to contest the 300 parliamentary seats in the February 12 election.