Dhaka, Feb. 10 -- More than half a million expatriate Bangladeshis have cast their votes by postal ballot in the election and referendum, though fewer than that number have so far reached the Election Commission.

On Tuesday, Salim Ahmad Khan, team leader of the Election Commission's expatriate postal ballot voting project, said 471,957 postal ballots had reached the commission as of 10am.

According to data from the postal ballot app, 512,916 expatriates have cast their ballots, while 502,487 voters have already submitted their completed ballots to post offices or designated mailboxes in their respective countries.

Ahead of the Feb 12 election, the Election Commission dispatched postal ballots to 766,862 expatriate voters.

Of them, 528...