Dhaka, March 10 -- 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 following the completion of the registration process.

Besides, around 4,000 applications were rejected on various grounds, while the remaining applications are at different stages of processing.

The Election Commission launched its expatriate voter registration and NID services in...