Low turnout expected as only 7% of inmates opt for postal voting before Feb 12 polls

According to the Prisons Department, a large number of current inmates were detained following the fall of the government in 2024

Only about seven percent of inmates in the country’s prisons have shown interest in voting by postal ballot in the upcoming election.

According to data from the Prisons Department, 5,960 prisoners out of around 85,000 inmates housed in 72 prisons across the country will cast their votes by postal ballot.

The election is scheduled to be held on Feb 12.

Assistant Inspector General of Prisons Jannat ul Farhad told bdnews24.com that Bangladesh currently has 75 prisons, of which inmates in 71 facilities have registered for postal voting.

The remaining prisons are newly established and currently do not house any prisoners.

The country’s prisons, which have an official capacity of about 43,000 inmates, are currently holding nearly double that number.

Against this backdrop, the Election Commission has placed particular emphasis on postal voting in this election, creating an opportunity for prisoners -- alongside expatriate voters -- to participate in the polls.

Farhad said that while 6,313 prisoners initially registered for postal voting, 353 were excluded due to various complications, leaving 5,960 approved voters.

“Of these, 3,647 votes had been cast as of Thursday and sent to the relevant constituencies following standard procedures,” he said.

“The rest are still being processed.”

Explaining the delay, he said the process requires accessing the Election Commission website to retrieve candidate lists corresponding to each prisoner’s constituency, which can take time.

According to the Prisons Department, a large number of current inmates were detained following the fall of the government after the July Uprising in 2024.

Official data show that prisons were holding around 48,000 inmates against a capacity of 43,000 as of Aug 5, 2024.

Over the past 17 months, that number has surged to approximately 85,000.

A senior prison official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said around 30,000 of the inmates are convicted prisoners.

“Many convicted prisoners do not have national identity cards, and many others are simply not interested in voting by postal ballot,” the official said.

“Those arrested after Aug 5 are also largely reluctant to vote or have chosen not to register, which has kept the number of postal voters very low.”

He added that some inmates refrained from registering in the hope of securing bail before election day and voting in person instead.

Farhad, however, cautioned that prisoners released on bail after registering for postal voting would not be able to cast their votes at all.

“Once a prisoner registers for postal voting, he cannot vote outside if released later,” he said.

“Just as he is legally barred from voting from prison after release, he also loses the opportunity to vote elsewhere.”