Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Thursday alleged that attempts are being made to undermine a level playing field weeks ahead of the country’s 13th national parliamentary elections.
The allegations were made at a press conference in Dhaka by Mahdi Amin, adviser to the BNP chairperson and spokesperson for the party’s election steering committee.
Mahdi said the election follows what he described as a 16-year anti-fascist movement and a mass uprising in 2024, adding that voters expect equal opportunities for all political parties.
“Over the past few days, we have observed actions that are eroding the level playing field and paving the way for a controversial electoral process,” he said.
He alleged that a rival party is exploiting religious sentiment by making voters swear oaths on the Holy Quran to vote for a specific electoral symbol, calling it a violation of election rules. He also claimed activists are collecting national identity card details and mobile financial service information, including bKash numbers.
On expatriate voting, being introduced for the first time, Mahdi Amin said information circulating on social media shows postal ballots allegedly in the possession of activists of a particular party in Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
“Block voting is completely illegal,” he said, adding that in some cases one person’s information is allegedly being used to collect another person’s ballot.
He also raised concerns about the design of postal ballots, alleging that the BNP’s electoral symbol — the sheaf of paddy — has been placed in a less visible position compared with rival symbols.
Mahdi questioned the Election Commission’s handling of dual citizenship, saying some BNP candidates who had acquired foreign citizenship while living abroad later applied to renounce it after their nominations were confirmed.
He further alleged selective enforcement of election rules, claiming the commission asked BNP Acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman to suspend personal and religious visits while other parties continued campaigning.
The BNP has also demanded the creation of a fact-checking cell within the Election Commission to address election-related misinformation, he said.
Mahdi said the party has launched a public call center and an online platform to engage voters, and that Tarique Rahman will begin the party’s election campaign with a visit to Sylhet on January 22.