54,000 Bangladeshi Expats Apply to Register as Voters; 32,707 Applications Approved

A total of 54,000 Bangladeshi expatriates have applied to register as voters for the upcoming national elections. Among these, 32,707 applications have been successfully completed.

The Election Commission (EC) is currently processing registrations from 17 stations (embassies/missions) across 10 countries. These include countries with the largest Bangladeshi expatriate populations, such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Italy.

So far, 53,909 applications have been received from 10 countries. Of these, 4,675 applications were rejected during the verification process. However, 24,705 applications were approved after thorough investigation. Additionally, biometric data, including fingerprints and photos, have been collected for 32,707 expatriates.

Furthermore, 680 applications are awaiting approval, while 23,845 applications are under investigation at the local level. A total of 7,885 applications are pending upload at the respective embassies, while 21,881 applications have already been uploaded.

The breakdown of applications by country is as follows:

• UAE: 20,938
• Saudi Arabia: 4,461
• Italy: 7,250
• UK: 10,816
• Kuwait: 4,454
• Qatar: 3,460
• Malaysia: 1,196
• Australia: 392
• Canada: 881
• Japan: 71

Additionally, the Election Commission has received permission to begin voter registration in several other countries, including the United States, Maldives, Jordan, South Africa, Oman, France, Spain, Bahrain, and Singapore. EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed is currently overseeing the process in the United States.

The Election Commission is working at a fast pace to ensure that expatriates can exercise their voting rights in the upcoming 17th National Parliament elections. The EC plans to offer an online-based postal ballot system for expatriate voters. Voting for the national elections is scheduled to take place in the first half of February next year.