AL picks have Tk 7,561cr assets

At least 246 of the 265 Awami League-nominated candidates have wealth over Tk 1 crore and 177 of them have at least Tk 5 crore, according to an analysis by Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan).

The 265 AL picks have accumulated a wealth of Tk 7,561 crore, or Tk 28.53 crore on average each, according to its analysis based on their affidavits submitted to the Election Commission.

The total wealth of the 1,945 candidates whose affidavits Shujan analysed is Tk 13,620 crore.

"It seems there is a connection between power and magic wands," said Shujan Secretary Badiul Alam Majumder while unveiling the analysis at a virtual press conference yesterday.

Nepotism is also on the rise, with 46 constituencies kept among family members. Members of 17 families are contesting in 35 constituencies while 11 seats went to the children of current and former party leaders, Shujan said.

The difference between the income of the ruling party candidates and other party candidates are also rising, the non-profit said.

"In 2008, there was a narrow difference of 61 percent between the yearly income of Awami League and other party candidates. It was the last participatory election. In 2014, the difference was 225 percent as it was a one-sided election," Badiul said.

In 2018, the difference was 36 percent as all the parties joined the election, but now it stands at 559 percent, breaking all records, he added.

Shujan found the ruling party candidates top the list of both in terms of the yearly income and wealth accumulation.

Of the top 10 earners among the candidates, four are AL picks, five are independents who are actually AL leaders or sitting MPs running without official party backing, and one from Jatiyo Party.

At least 60 percent of the so-called independents are millionaires.

About the educational qualification, around 33 percent have master's degree, 27 percent completed graduation, 13 percent HSC and 7.7 percent SSC. Also, 12 percent of the candidates are either self-educated or illiterate.

According to the analysis, 58.71 percent candidates are businessmen and 12.19 percent service holders.

Only 1.70 percent candidates identified themselves as politicians in their affidavits.

In the keynote paper, Shujan Central Coordinator Dilip Kumar Sarker said that in real sense, the January 7 election cannot be termed an election.

"An atmosphere of competitiveness has been created artificially," he said.

Taking a dig at so many AL leaders and incumbent MPs running against their party picks, Supreme Court lawyer Dr Shahdeen Malik said, "The upcoming election is going to be held between Awami League and Independent League."

The way things stand, the next parliament will be occupied by the AL nominated candidates and the party's own "independent" candidates, he said.

He noted that lawmakers take little interest in formulating laws, as the 11th parliament passed 70 percent of the laws without any changes to what was placed by the cabinet.

"Such a practice will increase as the number of businessmen are increasing day by day…. We have turned parliament into the biggest local government institution. Lawmakers are involving themselves in local development activities, which is unconstitutional," he said.