Dhaka, Jan. 31 -- Nearly 140,000 postal ballots cast by expatriate Bangladeshis have reached the country ahead of the 13th parliamentary polls scheduled for Feb 12.

Salim Ahmad Khan, team leader of the Election Commission's (EC) OCV-SDI project, said that by 3:30pm on Friday, they had received 139,763 postal ballots.

The postal ballot app shows 454,587 expatriates have already cast their votes. Among them, 406,564 have submitted their ballots to post offices or designated mailboxes of their respective countries after casting their votes.

A referendum on implementing the July Charter will also be held simultaneously with the parliamentary polls on Feb 12. The EC has sent postal ballots to 766,862 expatriates. By Friday afternoon, 516,00...