The Election Commission (EC) today clarified that the ‘Postal BD’ mobile application has no connection with the actual voting process, including voting through declaration forms or ballot papers, in the 13th national parliamentary election and referendum.
In a statement, the EC said that signing declaration forms and casting votes on ballot papers are conducted entirely through manual procedures, while the mobile app is used solely to track voter activities.
The commission explained that the app has no linkage with either the declaration form or the ballot paper. Once the ballots reach the returning officer, any association with the app is completely severed from the yellow envelope.
The EC further said that during vote counting, the yellow envelopes of the respective constituencies are opened first in the presence of all concerned parties. The declaration forms and ballot papers are then separated, and ballot counting begins in accordance with prescribed procedures. Under this system, there is no scope to identify a voter along with the vote cast.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission also released the latest update on the voting process for voters residing within the country through the ‘Postal Vote BD’ mobile app (ICPV). According to the EC, as of 12:00 pm on Tuesday, the Bangladesh Post Office had dispatched a total of 646,507 ballots to voters.
Of these, 125,668 voters have received their ballots. A total of 96,632 voters have completed voting, while 70,810 ballots have been submitted by voters at post offices or postal drop boxes. So far, returning officers have received 3,655 ballots, the EC added.
