More than 2.27 lakh Bangladeshi expatriates living in 144 countries have registered as voters through the "Postal Vote BD" app in the 20 days since its launch, ahead of the 13th national election and referendum scheduled for February next year.

According to data available on Election Commission (EC)'s website, a total of 2,27,160 expatriates had registered as of 2:00pm today.

Of them, 2,06,969 were men and 20,191 were women.

The data shows that Saudi Arabia recorded the highest number of registrations, with 51,061 expatriates signing up. District-wise, Dhaka accounted for the largest number of registered overseas voters at 28,709.

So far, the EC has approved 2,26,893 registrations.

Although postal voting has existed in Bangladesh's electoral process since 1972, this marks the first time the EC has introduced an IT-supported online postal voting system.

Under the initiative, registered Bangladeshi expatriates will receive ballot papers bearing electoral symbols and will be able to cast their votes by email. Besides expatriates, individuals in lawful custody and government officials assigned to election duties will also be eligible to vote under the system.

The EC launched the app on November 18, while registration through the app began on November 19 and will continue until December 25.

Registration for officials on election duty and individuals in custody will remain open from December 19 to 23, EC officials said.