Donations were more than three and a half times the loans
According to affidavit data, 147 of the 300 elected MPs said they expected to receive donations or loans from relatives and non-relatives to cover their election expenses.
Excluding Amanullah Aman, 92 MPs out of 146 expected this external funding to cover at least half of their projected election expenses. In other words, nearly one-third of all 300 MPs (30.7%) expected at least half of their declared campaign expenses to come from others.
An analysis of the type of financing shows that, of the ৳284.6 million in external financing declared by the 146 MPs, ৳222.4 million (78.1%) was expected as donations. The expected donation amount was about 3.6 times the expected loan amount. Expected loans totalled ৳62.2 million, or 21.9%.
The largest share of expected donations (৳126.0 million) was expected from relatives. Expected donations from non-relatives totalled ৳96.4 million. Meanwhile, expected loans from relatives amounted to ৳49.6 million, while loans from non-relatives totalled ৳12.6 million.
Donations accounted for 78.1% of all expected external financing, while loans accounted for 21.9%. Considering donations alone, relatives accounted for 56.7% and non-relatives for 43.3%.
Relatives were the largest source of donations
Affidavits named brothers, wives, sisters, children, parents and other relatives as prospective financiers.
For both the BNP and Jamaat MPs, brothers were expected to be the largest source of funds among relatives.
Forty-five BNP MPs expected a combined ৳43.3 million in donations from their brothers, while 35 Jamaat MPs expected a combined ৳22.4 million from their brothers.
The relationship charts combine donations and loans to show the total expected contribution associated with each type of relative.
Expected amount by relationship
The top 10 relationship categories are shown by total declared amount.
Relationship and relatives’ income sources
Select a relationship from the dropdown to see the main declared occupations or income sources of financiers in that category and the amounts involved.
Expected funding by relative type: BNP vs Jamaat
The default view shows the top five relationship categories by declared amount. Select a relationship to move it to the first row.
Most Relative Funders Were Businesspeople
Analysis of the affidavits shows that most relatives expected to finance MPs’ election campaigns were businesspeople.
Relatives earning income from business were expected to provide ৳74.9 million.
The amount expected from salaried relatives was ৳41.0 million, while ৳9.3 million was expected from relatives earning income abroad.
Main income sources of relatives: BNP vs Jamaat
External Funding Despite Financial Capacity
Candidates submitted affidavits to the Election Commission. Alongside their own income, they disclosed the amount of cash held by themselves and their spouses, as well as their bank deposits.
The 146 MPs declared a combined expected campaign expenditure of ৳485.21 million. Their combined income declared in tax records was ৳193.45 million.
The MPs held a combined ৳562.78 million in cash. Their spouses held ৳572.54 million in cash, while the MPs had a combined ৳255.99 million in bank deposits.
The candidates also submitted their tax records, which contained their income figures. Income data from tax records were available for 127 of the 146 MPs who declared expected external financing.
Combined declared financial indicators for 146 seats
A combined comparison of expected campaign expenditure, income in tax records, candidates’ and spouses’ cash in hand, and bank deposits.
An MP has been classified as “able to cover campaign spending with available funds” if the combined amount of the MP’s cash in hand, the spouse’s cash in hand and bank deposits was equal to or greater than the MP’s expected campaign expenditure.
Comparing these available funds with campaign expenditure shows that many candidates could have covered their expected expenses using their own available funds. Nevertheless, they also declared that they expected loans or donations from relatives or non-relatives.
The chart below compares these MPs’ declared liquid funds, expected campaign expenditure and expected external financing.
MPs able to cover campaign spending with available funds
Read Methodology
This analysis is based on affidavits submitted to the Election Commission by candidates who contested the parliamentary election and were subsequently elected. All affidavits were collected from the official website of the Bangladesh Election Commission. Only elected MPs are included; unsuccessful candidates are excluded.
Relevant information was manually extracted from each affidavit and entered into a structured database. The following fields were stored separately:
- Expected campaign expenditure;
- Expected sources of campaign financing;
- Expected loans and donations from relatives;
- Expected loans and donations from non-relatives;
- Relationship to the financier;
- The financier’s declared occupation or income source;
- The candidate’s declared annual income;
- Candidate’s cash in hand, spouse’s cash in hand and bank deposits.
Where a candidate listed multiple expected financiers, each financier was entered as a separate record.
Standardising occupations and income sources
Affidavits used different wording for similar occupations or income sources. Equivalent descriptions were consolidated for comparison.
| As written in affidavit | Used in analysis |
|---|---|
| Expatriate; foreign income | Overseas income |
| Retired employee; retired from service; retired jobholder | Retired |
| Retirement welfare fund; retirement allowance; retirement proceeds; pension | Retirement benefits |
| Legal profession; legal business; lawyer | Legal profession |
| Doctor; medical practice | Medical profession |
| Personal savings | Savings |
| Salt and shrimp; salt and shrimp farming; salt and brickfield | Business |
| Teacher; teaching; salary and allowance; bank officer | Salaried employment |
| Teaching and agriculture | Employment and agriculture |
| Cultivation | Agriculture |
Where multiple occupations or income sources were listed together, such as “employment and agriculture”, the combined category was retained and the amount was not split.
Standardising relationship categories
Different descriptions of the same family relationship were grouped together. For example, biological brother, younger brother, elder brother and brother were all coded as “Brother”. Equivalent descriptions and spelling variants were consolidated for other relationships as well.
Limitations where individual amounts were not stated
Some affidavits named multiple relatives or financiers without specifying the amount expected from each. These records could not be used in amount-based analyses by relationship, occupation or income source. Where a reliable total was available, it remained in seat-level external-financing totals.
| Party | MP | Seat |
|---|---|---|
| BNP | Emran Ahmed Chowdhury | Sylhet-6 |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | Obaidullah Salafi | Nilphamari-3 |
| BNP | Dipen Dewan | Rangamati |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | Md. Ataur Rahman | Narail-2 |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | Salah Uddin | Gazipur-4 |
Individual amounts for relatives’ loans or donations not available
Some candidates stated the total expected from relatives but did not specify how much each relative would provide. These amounts were therefore not allocated in relationship-based analyses.
| Party | MP | Seat | Total declared amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| BNP | Md. Shawkatul Islam | Moulvibazar-2 | ৳2.2 million |
| BNP | S A Jinnah Kabir | Manikaganj-1 | ৳2.5 million |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | Md. Mostafizur Rahman | Kurigram-4 | ৳0.5 million |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | Obaidullah Salafi | Nilphamari-3 | ৳1 million |
Financial indicators
Expected external financing
Expected external financing was calculated as expected loans from relatives + expected donations from relatives + expected loans from non-relatives + expected donations from non-relatives. These are prospective sources declared in affidavits, not proof that the money was actually received.
Available funds
In this analysis, “available funds” means the sum of the candidate’s cash in hand, spouse’s cash in hand and bank deposits. Land, buildings, business assets, shares, vehicles and other non-liquid assets are excluded.
Able to cover spending with available funds
An MP was classified as able to cover spending with available funds when declared available funds equalled or exceeded expected campaign expenditure. This is an analytical category based only on declared liquid resources; it is not proof of actual use or a complete measure of wealth.
Seat-level calculations
Most statistics are calculated at seat level. Multiple loan or donation records for the same MP were aggregated to obtain total external financing for that seat, preventing duplicate counts.
Unclear and exceptional information
Some information for Kushtia-2 is unclear in the affidavit that could not used. Amanullah Aman (BNP, Dhaka-2) declared donation of ৳250 million from his wife. This was exceptionally large compared with other records and would disproportionately affect aggregate results and chart scales. His data were therefore excluded from every total, percentage, narrative and visualisation in this story. The final analytical scope is 146 MPs.