CHATTOGRAM, Feb 07, 2026 (BSS)- For the first time in the country's history, prisoners are able to vote in the national parliament elections.

Registered prisoners are voting via postal ballots for the 13th national parliament elections. In Chattogram Central Jail, a total of 320 prisoners have already cast their votes. 

The special voting started on February 3 and out of the 379 registered prisoners, 320 have cast their vote by February 7. 
The remaining prisoners will give vote by February 8. Additionally, the prisoners are participating in a reform-related referendum.
 
The Senior Jail Superintendent of Chattogram, Md. Iqbal Hossain told BSS that 379 inmates at Chattogram Central Jail have registered their names for in postal ballots. 

The voting process involves each registered prisoner receiving a packet containing three envelopes. 

One envelope contains a ballot paper for the national parliament election, while the other contains a ballot paper with options 'Yes' and 'No' vote for the referendum. 

After voting, the prisoners seal the envelopes and hand them over to the prison authorities, who then send those to the Election Commission via the postal department's express service. 

The Election Commission will announce the final results by combining the postal ballots with the general votes from the relevant constituency. 

The registration process was conducted online over three weeks with the assistance of prison authorities using a special app provided by the Election Commission, which concluded on January 5.