Most MPs are millionaires

Staff Reporter :
Around 90 percent lawmakers of the 12th parliament have assets worth more than Tk 1 crore, civil society platform Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN) said in a report yesterday.

SHUJAN also revealed that 200 of the elected 299 MPs are businessmen. The businessmen in the just elected House accounted for nearly 67 percent of the total strength of parliament, which is the highest among the last four ones.

After analyzing affidavits of the winning candidates of the recently concluded 12th parliament election held on January 7, SHUJANcame up with that information at a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

Presenting the findings, Dilip Kumar Sarkar, central coordinator of SHUJAN, said among the elected lawmakers of the 12th parliament, 269 have assets of more than Tk 1 crore, 89.97 per cent of the total number of lawmakers which was up by eight percent from the previous parliament.

However, according to Bangladesh Bank data, only 0.067 percent of the total Bangladeshi population has wealths valued at more than Tk 1 crore in 2023.

In March 31, the number of accounts with over Tk1 crore in deposits was 1,10,192, which increased to 1,13,554 at the end of June, said the central bank statement.

SHUJAN also informed, 200 of the elected 299 lawmakers of the just elected parliament are businessmen,while the figure 185 or 61.66 per cent of the total number of lawmakers of the last parliament elected in 2018.

Meanwhile, Lawyers, businessmen and farmers were the three most common occupations of the lawmakers elected to the country’s first parliament in 1973. Of the MPs in that parliament, 31 percent were lawyers and only 18 percent were businessmen.

However, in the fifth parliament, constituted through the election of 1991, businessmen outnumbered lawyers, with 38 percent being businessmen and 15 percent lawyers.
After the 2008 polls, 57 percent of the lawmakers elected were businessmen, which rose to 59 percent by 2014.

Apart from this, the number of highly educated parliamentarians has also increased slightly compared to the 11th Parliament, as 82.60 per cent of newly elected parliamentarians have completed graduation or post-graduation, compared to 81 per cent in the 11th national parliament.

Badiul Alam Majumdar, the secretary of SHUJAN, said that the 12th general election was a one-sided election as many features of a fair election were absent.

There were some features of fair elections, including having fair options for voters, having a level playing field for all, not knowing what the result will be until the result is announced, and having a chance for a power reshuffle, the secretary of SHUJAN identified.

As the elections of 2014 and 2018 were controversial, the people of the country hoped for free and fair polls, but their expectations were not fulfilled in the election, said Majumdar.

The candidate affidavits often contain false and misleading information and concealed information about wealth, but the Election Commission does not verify the information properly and did not take action in this regard, he said.