Year
2025
Reform Domain
Electoral Process
Sub Domain
Registration of Political Parties
Source of Reform Proposals
Electoral Reform Commission
Reform Proposed
Reform Initiated
Legal and Policy Framework
Operationalisation
Action Implementation
Stage of Implementation
Reform Proposed
Last Update: 14-Dec-25
This reform proposal has been articulated in the Electoral Reform Commission Report, but has yet to be officially initiated.
Reform Initiated
Last Update: 14-Dec-25
The reform has been partially initiated through amendments to the RPO. Article 44CC has been revised to require political parties to publish donation details transparently on their official websites. However, the amendment does not fully incorporate the broader proposal regarding public auditing of party accounts and scrutiny and publication by the Election Commission.
The revised Article 44CC now reads as follows: “44CC. (1) Every political party setting up any candidate for election shall maintain proper account of all its income and expenditure for the period from the date of publication of notification under clause (1) of Article 11 till the completion of elections in all the constituencies in which it has set up candidates and such account shall show clearly the amount received by it as donation above taka five thousand from any candidate or any person seeking nomination or from any other person or source giving their names and addresses and the amount received from each of them and the mode of receipt [and these details of the list of amounts received as donations must be transparently published on the political party's official website.
Legal and Policy Framework
Last Update: 14-Dec-25
Article 44CC has been revised to require political parties to publish donation details transparently on their official websites. The revised Article 44CC now reads as follows: “44CC. (1) Every political party setting up any candidate for election shall maintain proper account of all its income and expenditure for the period from the date of publication of notification under clause (1) of Article 11 till the completion of elections in all the constituencies in which it has set up candidates and such account shall show clearly the amount received by it as donation above taka five thousand from any candidate or any person seeking nomination or from any other person or source giving their names and addresses and the amount received from each of them and the mode of receipt [and these details of the list of amounts received as donations must be transparently published on the political party's official website].”
Operationalisation
Last Update: 24-May-26
27 out of the 50 political parties that contested the 13th National Parliamentary Election of Bangladesh have submitted their election expenditure statements to the Election Commission. The Election Commission has extended the deadline until 13 June 2026 for the remaining 23 parties to submit their statements.
Observation
-
The original deadline for political parties to submit election expenditure statements was 13 May 2026, which has been extended by the Election Commission until 13 June 2026 for the parties that failed to comply. Under the RPO, political parties are required to submit their expenditure statements within 90 days of the publication of the election results gazette and maintain proper accounts of income, expenditure, and donations. Donations above Tk 5,000 must be recorded with donor details and published on the party’s official website.
According to the Election Commission, parties failing to submit expenditure statements within the extended deadline may be fined Tk 10,000, given a further 15 days, and may ultimately face cancellation of registration. The effectiveness of this framework will depend on whether the Commission enforces these consequences after the extended deadline.
Resources