93pc of AL candidates are millionaires: SHUJAN

A total of 92.83 per cent of the Awami League candidates contesting in the 12th Jatiya Sangsad election are millionaires. The average annual income of 265 candidates of the ruling party is Tk 21.4 million (Tk 2 crore 14 lakh). The average value of their assets totals over Tk 285 million (Tk 28.5 crore). And 170 of the party candidates (64.15 per cent) are businesspersons by profession.

These figures were presented by Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN) at an online press briefing today, Thursday. The organisation gathered this information from the affidavits submitted by the candidates of the 12th Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) election.

Speaking at the press briefing, SHUJAN secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said, there's a magic wand linked to power. From the year 2008 it was seen that in the elections that were competitive, there was less disparity in wealth among the contestants. This gap widens in the case of one-sided elections. The reason behind this is that no matter whichever candidate you may field, winning is ensured

SHUJAN's central coordinator Dilip Kumar Sarkar presented a report on the details of the candidates contesting in the election. The report stated that according to the election commission website, 28 political parties were participating in the election this time. There were a total of 1,945 candidates including independent contestants. Of them 14 were contesting from 2 seats and one from three seats.

The SHUJAN report said that that the annual income of 1,945 candidates totaled Tk 11.14 billion (Tk 1,114 crore). The total value of their assets stood at Tk 136.2 billion (Tk 13,620 crore). The Awami League candidates had the highest income and assets. After that came the independent candidates.

According to the SHUJAN report, the profession of around 59 percent of the candidates in this election was business. Of Awami League's 265 candidates, 170 (64.15 per cent) were businesspersons. Of Jatiya Party's 262 candidates, 173 (66.3 per cent) were businesspersons. Of the 433 independent candidates, 302 (69.75 per cent) were businesspersons.

The number of businessperson candidates this time has increased compared to the 2018 elections to the 11th Jatiya Sangsad. In the last election, around 52 per cent of the candidates were businesspersons.

The SHUJAN report said that 32.49 per cent of the candidates this time had Masters degrees and 26.43 were graduates having Bachelor's degrees. There were cases at present against 9.51 per cent of the candidates. Of the candidates, 915 (47.4 per cent) paid income tax. Of them, 352 paid over Tk 100,000 in income tax.

Senior lawyer and executive member of SHUJAN, Shahdin Malik, said, "The activities of our political party leaders would put barbarians to shame. This election is Awami League versus 'independent league'. Once they win the election, most of the independent candidates will join Awami League. So it would be no surprise if 280 members of the next parliament are of the ruling party. There will be not even the slightest semblance of democracy in the next two or three years."

The press briefing was conducted by former justice MA Matin. He said, "The people no longer expect anything from the parliament. But no one will accept this parliament. There certainly will be light at the end of the tunnel. We hope there will be good elections in the future in Bangladesh."

The report presented at the press briefing had certain recommendations. These included -- before the gazette of the election results are published, the affidavits of the elected members of parliament should be scrutinised and results cancelled of the candidates providing false information; the details of those whose income and assets have increased abnormally from before or are suspicious, must be scrutinised by the National Board of Revenue and the Anti-Corruption Commission and the results cancelled of those providing false information; changes should be made in the affidavit form, particularly concerning assets. It must be made compulsory to mention the value of the moveable and immovable assets as well as the present market value.