Postal ballots in Bangladesh elections 2026: a step-by-step guide on how to use it

The 13th Bangladesh parliamentary elections are set to seal the fate of 2,034 candidates contesting in 350 seats across the country. However, in a first in the independent history of Bangladesh, postal ballots is being introduced in nearly 42,779 polling stations in the country. The move is set to impact the judgement of around 12.77 crore voters in Bangladesh.

Interestingly, the Election Commission of Bangladesh is undertaking the process of international postal ballot services, enabling expatriate Bangladeshis to cast their franchise for the election. To enable postal ballot voting, the apex body has rolled out Postal Vote BD App to further smoothen the process.

Postal ballot voting in numbers

According to local media reports, more than 4.2 lakh postal ballot overseas votes have arrived in Bangladesh on Saturday (February 7, 2026). So far, nearly half million expatriate Bangladeshi voters have exercised their franchise. The Election Commission of Bangladesh has sent postal ballots to more than 7.6 lakh overseas.

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Postal voting has also been extended to election officials, government employees posted outside their constituencies, and voters in custody inside Bangladesh. Officials said more than 690,000 domestic voters had been issued postal ballots.

Back in home, over 6.9 lakh voters have been issued postal ballots as of yet, a senior election commission official said.

Step-by-step- guide to cast votes in postal ballots?

1. Voters must dowload Postal Vote BD App first
2. Create personal accounts
3. Log in to your account
4. Add details like passport number and a selfie
5. Once completed, voters will receive ballot papers
6. Drop the ballot paper at the nearest post box to be flown to your respective constituencies

What is Form-7 and Form-7A in postal ballots?

According to the Election Commission of Bangladesh, the Form-7 is the official postal ballot paper used by certain categories of voters to cast their votes remotely. In the postal ballot voting process for Overseas Voters (OCV), the printed ballot paper (Form-7) will contain all symbols reserved by the Election Commission for political parties and independent candidates; the candidate’s name will not be printed. There will be a blank box next to the symbol where the voter must provide a tick or a cross mark.

While Form-7A is meant for For Inland Postal Voters (ICPV), which mentions both the name and the symbol of the candidate in the respective constituency. The voter will place a tick or cross in the blank box provided next to the name and symbol (Sample Ballots: Form-7 and Form-7A attached). No marks other than a tick or a cross can be made in the blank box.

How will the votes be counted?

After logging into the developed software for postal voting, the Returning Officer will be able to see the total number of registered postal voters and the overall status of votes cast for the respective parliamentary seat. Based on the number of registered postal voters, the Returning Officer will use one ballot box for every 400 (four hundred) ballot envelopes for each seat. A sticker containing the constituency number and name must be attached to each ballot box.

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Postal ballot envelopes started arriving at the Returning Officer’s office after the allocation of symbols, specifically from January 21, 2026. To this end, ballot boxes must be prepared on the day symbols are allocated or the following day. To ensure transparency, the Returning Officer will send a written request to the candidate or their election agent, specifying the date and time, to be present before the ballot boxes are locked. Eventually, the votes are counted, the candidates with the highest number of votes is declared the winner.