An analysis of Election Commission (EC) data shows that in the 13th National Parliament election in Bangladesh, the IT-supported postal ballot system delivered the bulk of its votes to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
As a single party, Jamaat received the largest share of postal votes, although BNP won 209 seats to form the government.
EC reported a total of 1,520,093 registered postal voters across 300 constituencies; 1,063,874 cast ballots, a turnout of 69.99%. There were 57,898 invalid votes.
Combined, BNP and Jamaat received 810,258 postal votes, equal to 76.16% of valid ballots cast.
As a single party, Jamaat received 45.88% of postal votes (488,114 votes), while the BNP received 30.28% (322,144 votes).
The National Citizens Party (NCP) took 52,840 votes (4.96%).
Together, these three parties won 863,128 postal votes, or 81.13% of the total; remaining votes went to other parties and independents.
Despite BNP’s overall parliamentary victory on 209 seats, postal ballots altered results in two constituencies, the EC analysis shows.
In Sirajganj-4, centre counts gave M Akbar Ali, the BNP candidate, 160,458 votes and Md Rafiqul Islam Khan, the Jamaat candidate, 159,693 votes.
After postal ballots were added -- Rafiqul Islam Khan 2,179 and M Akbar Ali 820 -- Rafiqul Islam Khan was declared winner by 594 votes.
In Madaripur-1, centre counts showed Nadira Akter 64,291 and Said Uddin Ahmad Hanzala 63,511, a 780-vote lead for Nadira Akter.
Postal ballots gave Hanzala 1,398 and Nadira Akter 233, producing a final margin of 385 votes in favour of Said Uddin Ahmad Hanzala.
The EC data show postal turnout was 70% or higher in 172 constituencies; Rangpur-2 recorded the highest postal turnout at 87.08%. Postal turnout was zero in Panchagarh-2, Thakurgaon-2, Thakurgaon-3, and Chittagong-1.
Prominent party leaders saw mixed postal results.
Prime Minister and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman won the final result in Dhaka-17 but lost the postal ballot there, receiving 1,256 postal votes to SM Khaliduzzaman of Jamaat on 2,328.
Tarique Rahman won both the final and postal results in Bogra-6, receiving 1,545 postal votes against Md Abidur Rahman of Jamaat, who received 1,062 (a 483-vote postal margin).
In Dhaka-15, Shafiqur Rahman, head of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, won both the final and postal counts with 2,790 postal votes against BNP’s Md Shafiqul Islam Khan on 1,920 (margin 870).
Nahid Islam, convener of the National Citizens Party (NCP), won Dhaka-11 in both final and postal counts, taking 1,834 postal votes to BNP’s MA Kaiyum on 864 (margin 970).
Analysis of district-level patterns shows that in several southern districts -- Comilla, Chandpur, Feni, Noakhali and Lakshmipur -- Jamaat-e-Islami and 11-party alliance candidates led by large margins in postal ballots even where they lost the final constituency result.
In Comilla, all 11 constituency postal counts were won by 11-party alliance candidates.
In Comilla-4, Hasnat Abdullah of the 11-party alliance and a NCP candidate won both the final result and the postal count.
Chandpur saw 11-party alliance candidates win all seats on postal ballots; Chandpur-3 recorded the highest postal share in the district at 71.59%.
In that seat, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Md Shahjahan Mia took 4,054 postal votes to BNP’s Sheikh Farid Ahmed on 1,794 (postal margin 2,260).
Feni-3 had the highest number of registrations on the postal-bd app, with 16,038 registrants.
There, BNP’s Abdul Awal Mintu received 3,196 postal votes while Jamaat-e-Islami’s Mohammad Fakhruddin received 7,339; Abdul Awal Mintu nonetheless won the final constituency result.
In Chittagong, BNP won the postal count in only 1 of 16 constituencies. In Chittagong-12, BNP candidate Md Enamul Haque received 964 postal votes to Jamaat-e-Islami’s Faridul Alam on 764, a 200-vote postal margin for the BNP candidate.
Overall, the EC analysis highlights how postal ballots concentrated with a small number of parties and, in a few constituencies, were decisive in determining winners after centre counts were published.
