With only eight days left before the national election, government employees in Bangladesh are showing limited interest in postal voting. Out of 1.7 million officials assigned election duties, only 518,603 registered for postal ballots, leaving nearly 1.2 million unregistered. Many cited work responsibilities and family safety concerns as reasons for abstaining. Even those who received postal ballot notifications showed little enthusiasm to participate.

This election marks the first time postal voting registration was conducted online through the “Postal Vote BD” app. The Election Commission (EC) reported that 1.53 million voters, including expatriates, registered via the app. However, several government employees said they were unaware of the process or found registration complicated. EC officials claimed extensive promotion efforts were made but acknowledged that many may have missed registration due to late duty assignments.

According to EC data, only 7,367 domestic postal voters received ballots, and 4,902 completed voting. The commission plans to review the low registration and participation rates after the election.