Voting method

Bangladesh, Representation of the People Order (RPO) 1972 (as of November 2023), accessed 15 January 2024 

27. ^*[ (1) The following person may cast their votes by postal ballot in such manner as may be prescribed, namely:¬-

(a) a person referred to in sub-sections (3) and (5) of section 8 of the Electoral Rolls Act, 2009;

(b) a person appointed for the performance of any duty in connection with an election at a polling station other than the one at which he is entitled to cast his vote; and

(c) a Bangladeshi voter living abroad.]

(2) An elector who, being entitled to do so, intends to cast his vote by postal ballot shall -        

(a) in the case of a person referred to in sub clause (a) 2 [and (c)]^** of clause (1), within fifteen days from the date of the publication of the notification under Article 11, and      

(b) in the case of a person referred to in sub clause (b) of that clause as soon as may be after his appointment,

apply to the Returning Officer of the constituency in which he is an elector for a ballot paper for voting by postal ballot; and every such application shall specify the name of the elector, his address and his serial number in the electoral roll.

^*Clause (1) was substituted by section 12 of Representation of the People Order (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act. No. XIII of 2009) (with effect from 19th August, 2008).

^**The word, bracket and letter “and (c)” was inserted after the words, bracket and letter “sub clause (a)” by section 9 of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2013 (Act No. LI of 2013).

Despite the provisions for voting from abroad in the Article 27 of the Representation of the People Order, 1972, Bangladeshi expatriates still remain disenfranchised.