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DHAKA, Jan 26, 2026 (BSS)- BNP has expressed grave concern over use of religion to influence the coming parliamentary election and demanded prompt and effective measures of the Election Commission (EC) against such activities.
Without naming any political party he said religion is being used as a political tool by a particular political party to influence voters.
BNP's election spokesperson Mahadi Amin was addressing a press conference at party’s Gulshan office here this afternoon.
Mahadi Amin said candidates, leaders, and activists of a political party are conducting systematic election campaigns exploiting religious emotion of the voters.
Many social media posts and videos clips are propagating that voting for a specific symbol is a religious duty, he alleged.
Mahadi Amin further said that such attempts to seek votes by misinterpreting religion and instilling fear in people are not only unethical but illegal also.
This tendency of influencing voters on religious beliefs and emotions is undermining the transparency, neutrality, and free and fair environment of the election, he said.
Referring to Representation of the People Order (RPO) 1972, he said influencing people for vote using religion is a punishable offense.
He also commented that the Election Commission's silence and inertia to the matter is making the situation very concerning.
Mahadi, also an adviser of the BNP chairperson said workers of that political party are going door-to-door and collecting personal information of the voters including the copies of national identity cards, mobile numbers, and bKash numbers from female voters.
“Collected personal information and documents could be used to cast fake votes, cast votes in the name of deceased persons and make attempt to influence voters through financial transactions," he noted.
“Such activities are punishable offenses under the Voter List Act, 2009, the Penal Code 1860, and the Digital Security Act, 2018. So, the EC must take stern and preventive measures quickly to stop such illegal activities and prevent the misuse of NID information,” he added.
About the deployment of 13 to 15 Ansar and VDP members in every polling centres, Mahadi said large portion of the members of the forces are local residents and questions have arisen about their political affiliation.
“If local residents and politically influenced individuals are given duties at polling centres, impartiality could be compromised. For this reason, BNP has demanded that Ansar and VDP members should be assigned duties outside their locality,” he said.
Mahadi Amin said it’s the constitutional duty of the EC to hold a fair and neutral election. Without visible and stringent measures immediately the acceptability of the election will be severely questioned.”
He expressed hope that the EC will play a neutral role, take effective measures to protect people's voting rights.
