Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) and the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami issued statements and counterstatements over the proportion of women in party leadership, in a spat that continued for a second day on Tuesday.
Both described each other’s statements as misleading.
The dispute began following the publication of TIB’s research report titled “Institutional Good Governance in Political Parties of Bangladesh” on Monday. The report found that Jamaat had no female members in its central committee, although the party registration law makes women’s participation mandatory in committees at all levels.
TIB, however, noted that the party had fulfilled the requirement of having 33% women among its members, but pointed out that Jamaat had no female candidates in the last election.
Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar issued a statement describing the TIB report as “untrue” and “misleading” hours after its publication.
In the statement, he said Jamaat practises democracy at all levels of the organisation in accordance with its constitution and has activities and committees for women at every level.
The party has 21 female members in its existing central executive council and 122 female members in its central Majlis-e-Shura. In addition, around 43% of its Rukon (members) are women.
On Tuesday, TIB issued a counterstatement saying the term “central committee” referred to the central or national executive committee, central executive council or central executive body.
It said the 19-member central executive council of Jamaat for the 2023–25 period, as published on the party's website, had no female members, which constituted a clear violation of the relevant provision of the Representation of the People Order (RPO).
Daily Waadaa also examined Jamaat’s website and found that the 21-member executive committee, headed by the party's Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman, has no female members.
Under Section 90B(1)(b)(i) of the Representation of the People Order, 1972, every political party's constitution must include a provision reserving at least 33% of membership in committees at all levels for women.
However, parties have been asked to achieve this target gradually by 2030.
Daily Waadaa contacted Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Maulana Hamidur Rahman Azad about TIB's statement.
He said the research organisation had been misled by inaccurate information because it had not contacted Jamaat leaders and lacked an understanding of the party's organisational structure.
He claimed that Jamaat had a higher proportion of female members than any other active political party in Bangladesh, at 43%.
He also said there were 43 female members in the party's policy-making forum, the Majlis-e-Shura.
Asked why there were no women in the 21-member executive committee, Azad said the party had until 2030 to meet the requirement and there was an opportunity to work on the matter in the future.