Expatriates can vote even without a passport

The Election Commission (EC) has given the opportunity to expatriates to vote even without a passport. From now on, the complications related to passports for expatriates to become voters have been eliminated. The commission will register someone as a voter even if they do not have a passport. This opportunity has been created for expatriates with the amendment of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) today (August 20). This issue is known from the SOP signed by the Director of the EC’s NID Division, Khan Abi Shahanur Khan. It says that if you do not have a passport, you will have to submit certificates from three expatriates living in the relevant country with NIDs to prove that you are a Bangladeshi. In addition, you will have to provide relevant documents to prove your voter status. The SOP also says that other necessary documents can also be submitted to the registration center. If not possible, the documents can be submitted to the investigation officer or registration officer through a representative in Bangladesh on behalf of the applicant. Incidentally, the commission is currently conducting voter registration activities through embassies in 16 stations in nine countries. The countries are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Australia and Canada. About 50,000 applications have been received from these countries.