Efforts to mobilise voters through religious language and symbolism have emerged as a major point of controversy in the country’s thirteenth parliamentary election, with Jamaat-e-Islami facing the sharpest scrutiny over allegations of exploiting faith for electoral gain.
An analysis of campaign material, social media videos and media reports suggests a clear pattern in which Jamaat candidates and supporters have invoked religious duty, divine reward and spiritual obligation while seeking votes.
Voters in several parts of the country, including the capital, say terms such as heaven, forgiveness of sins, religious responsibility and the pleasure of Allah are being used repeatedly as part of doorstep and community-level campaigning.
While religion has long featured in the country’s electoral politics, analysts say the scale and explicitness of its use this time stand out. Most major parties, they argue, have at various points drawn on religious sentiment, but available evidence indicates that Jamaat has relied on such messaging more heavily than others during the current campaign.
Official campaigning for the election began on 22 January, but candidates from several parties had already been active in constituencies well before that date. Jamaat candidates have been visible at courtyard meetings, local gatherings, religious and social events and in door-to-door outreach, where critics say religious emotion is being deliberately framed as a political asset.
Several religion-based parties are contesting the election. Alongside BNP are two factions of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, while Jamaat leads a coalition that includes Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis led by Mamunul Haque, Khelafat Andolan, another faction of Khelafat Majlis and Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islam Party.
Islami Andolan Bangladesh, led by Chormonai Pir Syed Muhammad Rezaul Karim, initially aligned with Jamaat but later quit the alliance over seat-sharing disputes and is now contesting independently.
Critics argue that although all religion-based parties use faith in their messaging, Jamaat has gone further by, as they put it, misinterpreting religious concepts to influence voters directly. Several public speeches have fuelled this debate.
At an election meeting in Naogaon on the night of 23 January, ASM Shahriar Kabir, a barrister and Jamaat loyalist, told supporters that ensuring the victory of the party’s election symbol, Scales, was a religious obligation.
He said voters should cast their ballots for Scales to please Allah and that people could later tell God after life that they had voted to establish Allah’s law. The remarks quickly circulated on social media, triggering widespread criticism.
In Barguna-2 constituency, a speaker named Afzal Hossain told a Jamaat rally on 22 January that Bangladesh was a Muslim country where, given that around 80 percent of the population is Muslim, there should be no “non-believer or inappropriate” representative in parliament. The statement, once shared online, prompted heated discussion both locally and nationally.
The controversy has extended beyond political debate and into regulatory action. In Jhalakathi-1 constituency, Jamaat candidate Fayzul Haque was served a show-cause notice by the Election Commission over allegations of hurting religious sentiment and using religion to solicit votes.
At a courtyard meeting, he reportedly said that even someone smoking a bidi could be forgiven by Allah and turned into a good person if they invited others to vote for Scales symbol. EC said the remarks directly linked religious belief with voting, violating the electoral code of conduct.
Under election rules, seeking votes by invoking religion, ethnicity or communal sentiment is prohibited. Citing the Representation of the People Order of 1972, BNP leaders say such practices amount to “undue influence”, a punishable offence.
At a press conference in Gulshan on 26 January, BNP election management committee spokesperson and adviser to party chairman Mahdi Amin said the use of religious belief and emotion to influence voters was severely undermining transparency, neutrality and the prospects of a free and fair election.
Other political actors and voters say they are experiencing this trend on the ground and have begun to protest against it. NCP convener Nahid Islam, speaking last December before joining a Jamaat-led alliance, warned that religion was being openly used to seek votes in national politics.
On 24 January, Islami Andolan Bangladesh leader Rezaul Karim questioned whether Jamaat could be considered a truly Islamic party, saying a group that betrays trusted allies cannot be trusted with the country or its people.
Academics have also weighed in. Dhaka University’s Professor of Islamic Studies, Muhammad Shafique Ahmad, said religion is fundamentally a matter of personal practice and moral life and should not be turned into a political instrument.
Voting, he said, is a civic right and responsibility, but framing it as something people must justify to God crosses ethical boundaries. Using religion through promises of reward or fear, he argued, is neither acceptable nor justifiable.
The debate intensified further after BNP chairman Tarique Rahman spoke at a rally in Sylhet on 23 January, appearing to refer to Jamaat when he said one party was “selling tickets to heaven”, adding that heaven lies solely in the hands of Allah.
The following day, Jamaat Secretary General and Khulna-5 candidate Mia Golam Parwar accused him of violating political decorum, arguing that no political leader has the right to issue what he described as religious verdicts.
Voters interviewed by TIMES of Bangladesh echoed similar concerns. Parveen Alam, a voter from Dhaka-15, said candidates should persuade people based on competence, plans and past performance, not by using religious language at their doorsteps.
A voter from Chattogram-3, speaking anonymously, said religion becomes a problem when it is presented as a condition, promise or obligation tied to voting, warning that such practices weaken civic politics and replace reasoned choice with emotion and fear.
Jamaat leaders reject the allegations, describing them as politically motivated propaganda. Jamaat Assistant Secretary General ATM Masum told TIMES that a particular group was spreading false claims to cover up its own extortion activities, insisting there was no truth to the accusations. Supporters of the party argue that religion is inseparable from social life and therefore cannot be excluded from politics.
EC, however, maintains that the law is clear. Asked about allegations of religion being used in campaigns, Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said there is no legal scope for such practices. He said the law prohibits influencing voters by invoking Allah, religious figures or religious claims.
Acknowledging the difficulty of monitoring private conversations across the country, he said the commission has appointed 300 judicial magistrates nationwide. Citizens can file written complaints, and judges can also take action independently if they observe violations.
As the nation heads towards polling on 12 February, the controversy has highlighted a broader and more enduring question. Beyond the contest for power, this election has become a test of where the boundary lies between faith and politics, and how that boundary should be enforced in a pluralistic democracy. At the centre of that debate stand the allegations against Jamaat-e-Islami, now emblematic of a deeper national argument over the ethical limits of political mobilisation.
