More than 54,000 Bangladeshi expatriates in 14 countries have received National Identity Cards (NIDs) under the overseas voter registration and NID issuance programme, with more than 28,000 smart cards printed and sent to the respective countries.

The information was revealed in the latest August report of the National Identity Registration Wing of the Election Commission (EC).

Officials of the EC’s NID Wing confirmed the matter on Tuesday (1 September).

According to the report, 3,536 applications are awaiting approval following verification by registration officers.

A total of 54,477 applications have been approved after verification, while 26,595 applications were rejected.

The report said that a total of 99,815 applications have been submitted for overseas voter registration.

Of them, biometric data has been collected from 62,589 applicants, while biometric enrolment for more than 37,000 applications is still pending.