Party nominations have turned into a business: Badiul Alam Majumdar

Election Reform Commission Chief and Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN) founding secretary Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar has said that political party nominations in Bangladesh have effectively become a form of business.

Speaking at a roundtable titled “Political Financing Culture and Business Protection in Bangladesh: Realities and Way Forward” at BIISS in Dhaka on Monday ( November 24), he said certain groups behave more like business syndicates than political parties, raising money through various means and using it for nomination trading.

Expressing concern over the growing influence of money in the electoral process, he said nomination politics has weakened democratic practices and complicated the election environment. Centralised nomination decisions have turned into major financial transactions, often ignoring grassroots opinion. “Buying nominations with money is no longer a secret,” he added.

Dr. Majumdar warned that this commercialisation of politics is pushing honest, qualified, and public-interest–oriented individuals out of the political sphere, allowing unfit and opportunistic actors to enter, which he described as deeply alarming for the state.

He noted that unusually high increases in candidates’ wealth, as reflected in their affidavits, are further proof of nomination-based corruption. Many candidates’ assets rise by several hundred to several thousand percent before and after elections, indicating a nexus between power and money, he said.

For meaningful reform, he stressed the need for internal democracy within political parties. He recommended mandatory grassroots voting to form panels from which nominations would be selected, and urged bringing parties under the Right to Information Act to ensure transparency in party finances and the nomination process. “Without reforms within political parties, neither fair elections nor healthy democracy will be possible,” he cautioned.

The roundtable also featured remarks from TIB Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, BNP Organising Secretary Shama Obaid, Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Advocate Ahsanul Mahbub Zubair, and the National Citizen Party Joint Convenor Khaled Saifullah.