Money, muscle power, religion eroding democracyThe combined influence of money, muscle power and religion is steadily eroding democratic politics in Bangladesh, Transparency International Bangladesh has said, revealing that candidates contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections are set to spend a staggering Tk463.7 crore on campaigning.
The corruption watchdog disclosed the findings in a report released on Thursday, based on an analysis of affidavits submitted by 1,981 candidates.
Titled “Know Your Candidates”, the report shows that, on average, each contender plans to spend about Tk22.5 lakh on electioneering, highlighting the heavy financial burden associated with electoral competition.
The report also notes a sharp rise in candidates from Islamist parties, who now account for 36% of the total number of contestants.
Amongst the total candidates, only four percent are women, no parties maintained nominating a minimum of five percent women, as proposed in the July Charter.
The report also noted gaps in the affidavits submitted by a number of candidates, with several disclosures found to be incomplete and, in some cases, containing questionable information –pointing to weaknesses in the Election Commission’s oversight.
Although there is legal provision to scrutinise and verify these financial disclosures, the mechanism is not being used effectively, said TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman while presenting the report at the organisation’s Dhaka office.
“Unhealthy and power-centric politics is becoming increasingly dominant,” he added.
It shows that among the major political parties, BNP contestants declared a total campaign expenditure of Tk119.5 crore, of which Tk45.1 crore is expected to come from donations, Tk7 crore from loans, while the remaining Tk67.4 crore will be financed from the party’s own funds.
Candidates of Jamaat-e-Islami didn’t fall much behind. They plan to spend a total of Tk80.6 crore as campaigning expenditure, among which Tk47.5 crore will come from donations, Tk12.6 crore from loans, and the remaining Tk20.5 crore from its own funds.
National Citizen Party plans to spend a total of Tk15.2 crore, among which Tk9.2 crore will come from donations, Tk2.9 crore from loans and Tk3.4 crore from its own funds.
About 30 to 35 candidates from NCP is set to contest in the upcoming parliamentary polls, according to its seat sharing agreement with a Jamaat-led seat sharing alliance involving 8 other like-minded parties.
Independent candidates plan to spend Tk65.7 crore as their campaigning expenditure, among which Tk14.1 crore will come from donations, Tk8 crore from loans and Tk43.6 crore from own funds.
The report also found that the combined debt of candidates in the upcoming polls exceeds that of aspirants in the previous four elections, amounting to more than Tk18,000 crore, even as the proportion of debt-ridden candidates is the lowest this time, about 25%.
Among the major parties, 59.41% candidates from BNP are debt ridden, while 22.26% from Jamaat are the same, while 26.97% candidates from Jatiya Party are debt ridden.
Additionally, the report showed that 28.41% of the aspirants earn up to Tk3.75 lakh a year, while 20.99% report annual incomes between Tk3.75 lakh and Tk6.75 lakh.
Another 12.46% earn between Tk6.75 lakh and Tk10.75 lakh, 8.06% between Tk10.75 lakh and Tk15.75 lakh, and 13.86% between Tk15.75 lakh and Tk35.75 lakh. Meanwhile, 16.23% of the candidates declare annual earnings of more than Tk35 lakh.
The report also finds that the spouses or other dependants of 259 candidates possess more movable assets than the candidates themselves, while the spouses or dependants of 118 candidates own more flats or buildings.
In addition, the spouses or dependants of 164 candidates hold more land than the candidates they are linked to.
Moving to the educational qualifications, the report shows that 76.42% of candidates have completed either graduation, or a post-graduation, while 8.94% candidates hold up to a higher secondary certificate and 6% up to a secondary certificate.
A total of 1,696 candidates are contesting for the first time in the upcoming parliamentary polls, the analysis showed.
More than 48% of the contestants come from business backgrounds, the report noted, adding that 12.61% mentioned law as their occupation, 11.56% showed teaching, while only 1.56% had “politics” in their occupation section of the affidavit.
