News Flash
DHAKA, Oct 14, 2025 (BSS) - Senior Secretary of the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed today said the app titled ‘Postal Vote BD’, developed for the voter registration of expatriate Bangladeshis ahead of the upcoming 13th Jatiya Sangsad election, will be inaugurated between the last week of October and the first week of November this year.
“Significant progress has already been made in the voter registration process for expatriates. The app development is at its final stage.
There is a plan to launch it between the last week of October and the first week of November,” he said while briefing journalists in front of his office at Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon here.
He said however, if the technical work is completed earlier, the inauguration will take place before the scheduled time.
Akhtar said voter registration activities have already started in 11 countries. Most recently, the programme has been launched in New York and Washington, USA, and it will soon begin in Miami and Los Angeles as well, he said.
Noting that the registration activities will be introduced in more countries in the coming days, the EC’s senior secretary said before the upcoming election, determining how many expatriate voters can be brought under the registration process is a challenge.
“This is because, in each country, we have to send technical teams—with the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—to set up the system and train embassy officials,” he said.
Akhtar said October 31 has been fixed as the deadline for voter registration, and efforts are underway to bring the maximum number of expatriates under registration within this timeframe.
He added that technical teams will soon be sent to Oman, South Africa, Maldives, and Jordan. Moreover, Bahrain, Singapore, France, and Spain have already given their consent, bringing the total number of countries to 19, he mentioned.
In response to a question regarding election observers’ registration, Akhtar said, “We have verified whether the concerned organizations have valid addresses and organizational structures. Even after the initial verification, as the process is not yet complete, a public notice has been published in newspapers.”
