Originally posted in The Daily Star on 6 January 2026
The Election Commission has scrapped the nominations of 82 parliamentary election aspirants for loan default, while 31 others will remain in the race after securing court stay orders on their default status.
Under the Representation of the People Order (RPO), a loan defaulter is not eligible to contest in the election. But a stay order from the top court enables a defaulter to enjoy the same opportunities as any other citizen until the appeal is disposed of.
One such beneficiary is an aspirant from a Narayanganj constituency.
Although he is a loan defaulter, his nomination was declared valid after the High Court, following a writ petition, issued a stay order on the Credit Information Bureau listing him as a defaulter. The order will remain effective until the appeal is disposed of.
In the same vein, another loan defaulter was able to pass his nomination from a Moulvibazar constituency.
If loan defaulters continue to receive such advantages in all areas, it will have negative consequences, especially in a national election, said experts and analysts.
“This is a great misfortune,” said Mustafa K Mujeri, executive director at the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development. In this country, loan defaulters enjoy more privileges, while good borrowers suffer.
“Defaulters continue to move around with extra benefits, and it is we who have enabled this. This is an ominous signal for the country.”
Loan defaulters often go to the HC without repaying their bank loans and file writ petitions that drag on for years, said Mujeri, a former chief economist of the Bangladesh Bank.
He stressed that laws must be changed and the number of money loan courts increased.
“More judges, lawyers and courtrooms are required so that financial cases can be resolved quickly. When defaulters see that even writ petitions are disposed of within two to three months, they will no longer be able to gain undue advantages by filing them.”
Political governments have not implemented these reforms for various reasons. “We expected the interim government would do it, but it did nothing,” he added.
The amended RPO under the interim government allows the Election Commission to cancel an MP’s seat even after the election if it is proven that the person is a loan defaulter or has provided false information.
“We can only state who is a loan defaulter and who is not — the authority to decide the validity of an election rests solely with the EC,” said BB Spokesman Areif Hossain Khan. The bank can appeal against a candidate’s writ petition, after which the EC will make its decision.
“But there is nothing more for us to do,” said Khan, also an executive director of the BB.
For the 13th parliamentary election, 2,574 candidates submitted nominations across the country. Of them, 2,461 candidates were found to be default-free, according to BB officials.
