Dhaka: As many as 43 Members of Parliament (MPs) elected in the 13th National Parliamentary Election held in Bangladesh last week face murder charges under Section 302, the local media reported citing data released by a leading civic organisation of the country.
According to Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik, also known as Shujan, 42 MPs faced such cases previously and 12 have both past and present cases, Bangladesh’s ‘Daily Star’ reported on Friday.
It mentioned that among major parties, MPs from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) – which registered a massive win in the elections – have the highest share of current cases at 50.24 per cent. Radical Jamaat-e-Islami, the second-largest party, follows BNP at the second position at 47.07 per cent.
The report added that overall 142 MPs currently face legal cases, while 185 have faced cases in the past. Around 95 have both past and at present cases.
“Compared to the 12th election, legal involvement among winners has increased. As per the analysis, the proportion of highly educated winners in this election is lower than in the 12th election. Among the 297 elected MPs, eight hold PhD degrees. A total of 138 have postgraduate degrees, while 93 are graduates. Twenty completed Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC), and 17 completed Secondary School Certificate (SSC),” the Daily Star reported.
The detailed data was presented to the media by Dilip Kumar Sarkar, Chief Coordinator of Shujan, at an event titled ‘Analysis of the Affidavit Information of the Newly Elected Members of Parliament’ in Dhaka.
“According to the analysis, the February 12 election and referendum were mostly peaceful, despite a few isolated incidents. Of the 297 constituencies, 79 candidates were from religious and ethnic minority communities, and four were elected. Business remains the dominant profession among MPs. Of the 297 members of parliament, 182 (61.28 percent) are involved in business, down from 66.89 percent in the previous election. Thirty-six MPs are lawyers, 22 teachers, 13 agriculturists and eight identified politics as their profession. Five are service holders and 27 come from other professions,” the leading Dhaka-based newspaper stated.
Highlighting figures from the asset declarations, Sarkar mentioned that 271 MPs have assets exceeding Tk 1 crore, and 187 have assets above Tk 5 crore.
“Among BNP’s 209 MPs, 201 have assets over Tk 1 crore, while 52 of Jamaat’s 68 MPs cross that threshold. The analysis suggests that wealthier candidates are more likely to win. Although 55.63 per cent of candidates were millionaires, the proportion is higher among elected MPs, indicating declining participation by less wealthy individuals,” Daily Star reported citing the figures released by Shujan.
(IANS)
