Dhaka, March 10 -- Expatriate Bangladeshis will be allowed to cast proxy votes in the upcoming national election. The Election Commission (EC) announced this decision after a meeting in Dhaka on Monday.

However, the Election Commission has yet to clarify the specific procedures for this process.

Around 42,000 Bangladeshi expatriates from seven countries have applied for voter registration through Bangladeshi missions over the past one and a half years. According to the latest data from the Election Commission Secretariat, Bangladeshi mission offices abroad have collected the biometrics of some 20,000 applicants.

So far, 11,500 national identity (NID) cards have been printed, with 9,500 already dispatched to the respective missions foll...