Nepal EC in Dhaka to Learn Bangladesh’s Postal Voting System

A delegation from Nepal’s Election Commission will meet with the Bangladesh Election Commission to learn from Bangladesh’s experience with its IT-supported postal voting system. The meeting is scheduled for 11am today (Wednesday, October 7) at the Election Commission building with the commission led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A M M Nasir Uddin.

Election Commission officials provided the information on Tuesday (October 6). The meeting will discuss Bangladesh’s experience in implementing the IT-supported postal ballot system introduced for the 13th parliamentary election, including voter registration, ballot distribution, voting, counting and overall implementation.

The Nepalese delegation includes Election Commissioners Dr Janaki Kumari Talukdar and Dr Rajib Subba, Secretary Krishna Prasad Kapri, Senior Computer Officer Anup Naupane, Deputy Attorney Kamala Kafle and UNDP representative Prabhat Kumar.

For the first time, the Election Commission introduced IT-supported postal voting in the 13th parliamentary election for government employees, people assigned to election duties and prisoners inside the country, as well as Bangladeshi voters living abroad. A mobile application called ‘Postal Vote BD’ was developed for the purpose.

After completing registration through the app, ballots were sent by post to the addresses of approved voters. After casting their votes, voters deposited the ballots in return envelopes at post offices, from where they were delivered to the respective returning officers. Through this system, overseas voters, as well as certain categories of voters residing outside their constituencies within the country, were able to vote.

According to Election Commission officials, 1,528,131 approved voters registered through the ‘Postal Vote BD’ app for the 13th parliamentary election. Of them, 1,224,188 cast their votes, meaning 80.11 percent of registered approved voters exercised their voting rights.

A total of 1,165,592 postal ballots reached returning officers, accounting for 76.28 percent of the total votes cast. Of these, 498,205 postal ballots were received from expatriate voters and 667,388 from voters residing within the country.

Among the received postal ballots, 1,073,497 were deemed valid. This accounted for 70.25 percent of the total registered approved voters. Based on these statistics, Bangladesh’s experience in implementing its postal voting system has become significant for Nepal’s Election Commission.

The Bangladesh Election Commission’s website lists IT-supported postal voting as a separate activity for the 13th parliamentary election and referendum in 2026. According to the Election Commission, the system allows expatriate voters and certain categories of voters residing within the country to cast their ballots.