80% Postal Votes Cast, 70% Declared Valid

The Election Commission (EC) said 80.11% of registered postal voters cast their ballots in the referendum and the 13th National Parliamentary Election.

Of the total registered postal voters, 70.25% of ballots were declared valid.

According to EC data, 767,233 expatriates registered from abroad to vote by postal ballot. Within the country, 760,898 voters — including government employees, members of law enforcement agencies and prisoners — also registered.

In total, 1,528,131 voters enrolled for postal voting through the BD App.

Among them, 544,372 expatriates cast their votes from abroad, while 679,816 voters voted from within the country. Altogether, 1,224,188 postal ballots were cast, accounting for 80.11% of total registrations.

Returning officers received 498,204 ballots from abroad and 668,388 from within the country. In total, 1,165,592 ballots reached the returning officers, representing 76.28% of registered postal voters.

Of the ballots received, 471,973 from abroad and 601,524 from within the country were declared valid. Combined, 1,073,497 ballots were accepted as valid, which is 70.25% of total registrations.

The EC said postal ballots received by 4:30pm on Thursday were considered for counting. It earlier noted that some ballots were rejected due to missing voter signatures, incomplete declarations and failure to follow prescribed procedures.