Financing early election show: Putting money for future gains?
The spending binge begins long before an election is announced
Highlights:
- Pre-election spending often exceeds legal limits, escaping scrutiny
- Candidates use rallies, processions, and posters to show strength
- Supporters and businessmen fund activities before official election schedule
- Large expenditures considered "investments for profit" by political analysts
- Regulatory gaps prevent Election Commission from controlling early spending
- Transparency and accountability of pre-election expenditure remain largely ineffective
It is like trading in futures – buying or selling a commodity for a later date at a price fixed today. Such trading is often risky as it may bring loss or gain. Here, in election seasons too, people are investing in futures. They are party fellows, relatives, friends, and well-wishers – a wider circle of backers who bet on a candidate with strong prospects.
The spending binge begins long before an election is announced. Posters and banners suddenly appear across neighbourhoods with names and images of potential candidates. These campaigns are often credited to "local residents" or party enthusiasts. Gestures of support are also expressed in many forms – sponsoring campaign T-shirts, hosting tea parties for sloganeers, paying for fuel for motorcycle convoys.
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There is a cap on a candidate's election expenses – Tk25 lakh or Tk10 per voter, whichever is higher. But the ceiling applies once the formal election schedule is declared. Any amount spent before that escapes scrutiny.
Yet, candidates and their campaign organisers remain cautious.
A BNP leader, speaking to TBS on condition of anonymity, said, "Some businessmen within the party arrange for T-shirts, food, or snacks. Furthermore, party members and activists participate in rallies or processions on their own initiative. If it is a motorcycle procession, unit-level leaders make these arrangements. The party does not incur any additional cost for this."
A similar explanation came from a Jamaat-e-Islami leader.
A leader of Jamaat's Dhaka Metropolitan South, speaking to TBS on condition of anonymity, said, "The crowds for processions or rallies are mobilised through the constituency-based thana (local unit) structures we have. On occasion, it also happens that a well-wisher of the party arranges for breakfast or lunch. Moreover, party workers attend under the leadership of the ward and thana leaders."
Both the political parties – major contenders in the national elections slated for mid-February next year – have already floated or at least selected their candidates for most of the 300 constituencies. Other parties, including the NCP, are also at play.
The election schedule has not yet been announced. But campaigns are gaining ground in the capital and elsewhere.
Influential candidates in various areas of the country, including the 20 constituencies in the capital, are making their presence felt by demonstrating their strength through motorcycle processions, car convoys, and rallies involving thousands of people.
On Saturday, MA Kaiyum, the BNP-nominated candidate for the Dhaka-11 constituency, held a procession in the Badda area of the capital with a car convoy and several thousand people. However, BNP leaders state that the party does not incur any separate expense for this procession, as workers participate spontaneously with their own motorcycles.
On that day, Nurul Islam Bulbul, ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami's Dhaka Metropolitan South, held an election procession in his electoral constituency of Chapainawabganj with several thousand motorcycles. The party claimed that there was no separate cost for this procession except for the T-shirts. However, even with only the cost of the T-shirts, Jamaat spent Tk3 lakh on election activities for this one-day procession.
Not only in Chapainawabganj, but also in many northern districts, candidates from the BNP and the Jamaat staged such shows of strength before the announcement of the election schedule.
Tofael Ahmed Sabu, general secretary of the Shibganj upazila unit of the Krishak Dal in Bogura, said, "Mir Shahe Alam, the BNP-nominated candidate for our constituency, is a well-regarded figure among people of all classes and professions in Shibganj. If he announces a rally, we try to attend. Simultaneously, we request thousands of people to go there. In this situation, we have to arrange snacks for a handful of people."
On Saturday, led by Abul Kashem Ovi, chief coordinator of NCP in Chandina upazila of Cumilla, a procession was held with over a hundred motorcycles and several thousand people.
On the same day, Abu Hanif, a senior leader of the Gono Odhikar Parishad, held a procession with hundreds of motorcycles in his electoral constituency, Kishoreganj-1.
One day prior to this, Helal Uddin, central executive council member and Naib-e-Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami's Dhaka Metropolitan South, held a motorcycle procession in the High Court, Nayapaltan, and Moghbazar areas of the Dhaka-8 parliamentary constituency.
It is not just these individuals; at least 50 candidates from political parties have been holding motorcycle processions and large gatherings in their respective electoral constituencies over the past week. Furthermore, the roads, streets, and side alleys of these constituencies have been covered with various banners and posters promoting the candidates.
Black money concerns
Political analysts and economists argue that such displays of power before the election are a manifestation of the use of "black money" (unaccounted wealth). Simultaneously, these candidates are spending large sums of money before the election to secure victory in their respective constituencies, and their main objective after winning is to recoup these expenses several times over from public funds.
Abdul Alim, Democracy International's principal director, said, "Such activities by candidates are pre-election investments. As election-related activities conducted before the announcement of the election schedule are not included under the RPO (Representation of the People Order), they are exempt from its provisions. However, action can be taken against the candidates regarding this matter under the 'Wall Writing and Poster Sticking (Control) Act, 2012.'"
Alim, also a former member of the Election Commission Reform Commission, said, "We had proposed to the commission that these pre-election activities should also be brought under the Code of Conduct. This is because the money being spent now is unaccounted for; consequently, candidates with greater financial capability are spending more money, and this will influence the election outcome. Furthermore, this large sum of money being spent is entirely unethical."
Regulatory gaps and accountability
Currently, a candidate in a parliamentary election may spend a maximum amount, which is the higher of Tk25 lakh or Tk10 per voter.
However, according to the new law, a candidate may spend more than Tk25 lakh if there are more voters in a constituency. For instance, in a constituency with 7 lakh voters, a candidate can spend a maximum of Tk70 lakh.
The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) published a research finding after the 12th National Parliament Election in 2024. It stated that candidates spent an average of Tk1,56,83,777 in the election, which is six times the spending limit. Awami League (AL) candidates incurred the highest expenditure, spending an average of 11.45 times more than the limit. Before the announcement of the schedule for the 12th Election, AL candidates spent an average of Tk1,67,80,102. TIB's research also revealed that candidates spent an average of Tk79,72,876 in the 11th Election in 2018.
Huge expenditure is an 'investment for profit': TIB
Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the TIB, has termed the massive spending on political campaigning – including motorcycle processions and shows of strength before the election – as an "investment for profit."
He told TBS, "Bangladesh's current political culture has not actually changed. The competition to seize power centred on elections and its commercialisation has not changed. The mentality concerning retaining power or gaining power is causing immense damage to the country. There is no demand for cultural transformation among the political parties; they are not willing to sit together or learn from the past."
Iftekharuzzaman added, "Political party activists spend large sums of money in the hope that they will subsequently receive unethical benefits from their leaders. Businessmen have also become extensively involved in politics as they seek to capitalise on this opportunity; to them, it is an area for investment."
He continued, "While there is a mandatory obligation to submit data on pre-election expenditure, this is not effectively enforced. There are questions regarding how adequate or how well the expenditure restrictions will be implemented in practice."
How will pre-election expenditure be controlled?
Election Commissioner Md Anwarul Islam Sarker told TBS, "The Code of Conduct for the national parliament election will be effective from the date the schedule is announced until the gazette notification is issued. The issue is that the Tk10 per voter expenditure is being spent prematurely. The symbol has not even been allocated yet – it is difficult to determine who is spending whose money.
"The Election Commission's (EC) responsibility is from the announcement of the schedule until the gazette is published. If the EC takes on such vast responsibility now, how will it do its other work? It is now the government's responsibility to look into this."
Jasmine Tuli, former additional secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat, said, "It is stated in the law that campaigning cannot be done three weeks before the day of the vote. Now, if someone campaigns, the authority to look into this is, in my opinion, the EC. It is also not stated anywhere that the EC cannot do anything before the announcement of the schedule. Looking into the matter of election campaigning and seeking votes falls within the jurisdiction of the EC."
Meanwhile, the EC is holding continuous dialogues. Recently, in one dialogue, Muhammad Badiuzzaman, director of the TIB, said, "We are unable to control the election expenditure or the spending limit that exists. We have seen in our research that candidates are spending several times more than the expenditure limit in every election."
Giving an example, he said, "In the 8th National Parliament Election in 2001, candidates' expenditure was more than double the set limit, three times the limit in the subsequent election, and four times the limit in the 10th Parliament Election. There must be a system to check this excessive spending."
He added, "After the election is over, the candidate submits their expense account to the EC. However, there is no obligation to make this public. This must be made mandatory."
