Dhaka, Jan. 26 -- More than 400,000 expatriate Bangladeshis have cast their votes through postal ballots before the Feb 12 national election and referendum, according to the Election Commission (EC).

By 1:30pm on Monday, a total of 405,164 expatriates had exercised their franchise, the EC said in a statement.

Of them, 344,993 voters submitted their ballots to local post offices or mailboxes in their countries.

So far, 19,388 ballots have already reached Bangladesh, the commission added.

The EC has sent ballots to 683,122 expatriates.

By Monday afternoon, 478,326 expatriates had received their postal ballots.

The commission earlier urged expatriates voting by post to complete the process "as quickly as possible" and send their ballot...