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Published : 09 Feb 2026, 04:02 PM
President Mohammed Shahabuddin has cast his vote in the 13th parliamentary election by postal ballot.
The head of state is registered to vote in the Pabna-5 constituency. Mohammad Sagar Hossain, the president’s assistant personal secretary, confirmed the matter on Monday.
A total of 20 former ministers and members of parliament in the ousted Awami League government, bureaucrats, policeman, and journalists in custody have also cast their votes in the general election through a postal ballot.
Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Md Motaher Hossain said on Sunday night that a total of 40 former ministers, MPs, bureaucrats, and journalists in custody had registered to vote.
“Of these 40, 20 are now refusing to vote. The rest voted according to the rules,” he said.
The chief of prisons declined to reveal the names of those who had registered and voted.
460,000 EXPATRIATES’ BALLOTS HAVE ARRIVED SO FAR
Over 575,000 expatriates have cast their votes in the 13th parliamentary elections and referendum by postal ballot, with 460,000 of them reached Bangladesh.
Salim Ahmad Khan, team leader of the EC's expatriate postal ballot project, confirmed that 460,480 postal ballots had been arrived from abroad as of 10am on Monday.
According to the postal ballot app, 577,075 expatriates have already cast their votes. Of these, 491,682 have deposited the completed ballot in the post offices or mailboxes of the respective countries.
The EC has sent postal ballots to a total of 766,862 expatriates ahead of the 13th parliamentary elections and referendum on Feb 12. As of Monday morning, 527,824 expatriates have received their ballots.
The EC says that all respected voters who have registered for postal voting but have not yet scanned the QR code printed on the envelope by 11:59pm (Bangladesh time) on Tuesday.
If it is not scanned before then, the ballot will be declared invalid.
About 1.53 million voters in Bangladesh and abroad have registered to vote using postal ballots this time, more than half of whom are expatriates.
Postal voting has also been extended to election officials, government employees posted outside their constituencies, and voters in custody inside Bangladesh through the “Postal Vote BD” app.
The EC has sent postal ballots to 760,898 voters within the country as of 10am on Monday.
Of them, 528,156 voters have collected their ballots. Of those, 473,144 have completed their vote and 429,882 have sent their ballots to the post office or mailbox after voting.
The commission says that if a voter completes their ballot immediately after receiving it and submits the yellow envelope to the nearest post office by Tuesday at the latest, it will be possible for the vote to reach their constituency’s returning officer in time.
Those postal ballots that reach the returning officer's office by 4:30pm on Feb 12, election day, will be counted.
