Poll Spending: Jamaat high, JaPa low, BNP yet to file
The expenditure returns for Bangladesh’s 13th national election show a striking imbalance among major political parties: Jamaat-e-Islami reported spending almost its full legal ceiling, Jatiya Party declared only a symbolic amount, while BNP’s official party expenditure figure remains unavailable because it had not submitted its return by the time of the latest reports.
According to Jamaat’s statement submitted to the Election Commission, the party spent Tk 4 crore 49 lakh 47 thousand 972 in the February 12 parliamentary election.
The party fielded candidates in 227 constituencies, putting it under the legal ceiling of Tk 4.5 crore for parties contesting more than 200 seats. Of the total, Tk 4 crore was shown as financial assistance to 225 candidates, while the rest went to manifesto printing, press conferences, hospitality, campaign-material transport, tours by central leaders and advertisements.
Jatiya Party’s return told a very different story. The party, which contested 196 seats, declared total election spending of only Tk 5 lakh 5 thousand. Its submitted breakdown showed Tk 3.25 lakh for campaign activities, Tk 1.15 lakh for public meetings and Tk 65,000 for staff expenses. The party also said it did not allocate any separate campaign fund to its candidates.
BNP, however, is the missing figure in the comparison. According to the media report, BNP, NCP and 25 parties had not submitted their election expenditure returns even after the deadline. So, an authentic BNP party-level expenditure figure cannot be stated yet from official returns.
The legal framework requires parties to submit their expenditure statements to the Election Commission within 90 days of the publication of the election gazette, according to bdnews24’s report on Jamaat’s submission.
Under the Representation of the People Order, a party fielding more than 200 candidates may spend up to Tk 4.5 crore, while parties fielding more than 100 but not more than 200 candidates may spend up to Tk 3 crore.
The returns create three sharply different political portraits. Jamaat’s account shows an organised, candidate-support-heavy campaign that nearly exhausted the legal ceiling.
Jatiya Party’s return shows a remarkably low-spending campaign despite fielding nearly 200 candidates. BNP, despite emerging as the dominant force in the election – bdnews24 reported BNP won 209 seats while Jamaat got 68 – has yet to provide the official number needed to complete the expenditure comparison.
