Govt must ensure expats’ voting rights: Hasnat

Staff Reporter Published: 25 January 2025, 06:51 PM
Govt must ensure expats’ voting rights: Hasnat

Hasnat Abdullah, convener of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, has demanded the government must ensure the voting rights of one and a half crore expatriate Bangladeshis.

He made the demand in a post on his verified Facebook ID on Saturday afternoon, January 25.

“Voter list update programme is going on in different parts of the country. Well! The Election Commission must make arrangements so that one and a half crore expatriate Bangladeshis can uninterruptedly cast their votes abroad,” he said.

The expatriates could not exercise their franchise in the past years despite having legal system of voting through ballot or post, Hasnat alleged it was a conspiracy of ‘fascist and killer’ Hasina to deprive a large number of populations of voting rights.

“If the Election Commission is unable to ensure expatriates’ voting rights, I will protest against it. I will continue to fight against this deprivation even if I remain alone,” he vowed.

Mentioning expatriates’ unprecedented support to the July-August uprising, particularly taking to the streets in various countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hasnat warned, “So, we do not allow any election excluding this vast portion of people.”

NS/MSU