ELECTORAL campaigns for the national elections, scheduled for February 12, began on January 22 to run until February 9. This is for the first time that the election authorities have banned the use of posters and hoardings. But candidates contesting the elections, even from major political parties, appear to have been unwilling to go by the rule. Colourful posters of candidates come to notice almost everywhere, in both Dhaka and outlying areas. This constitutes a breach of the Political Parties and Candidates’ Code of Conduct 2025, which the Election Commission published in an official notification at night on November 10, 2025, making the violation of the code a punishable offence. Any violation of the code will earn the candidates or others acting on behalf of the candidates up to six months’ imprisonment or a penalty of up to Tk 150,000 or both. In the case of political parties, the penalty could be up to Tk 100,000. The Election Commission also holds the authority to cancel the candidature in the case of serious breaches with a provision contained in the Representation of the People Order. An election commissioner has said that the returning officers have been asked to be stringent against the violation of the code.
Yet, the action of the election authorities has so far been confined to asking the errant candidates to explain their actions or warning the candidates against the violation. The election commissioner has said that mobile courts are operating to take action against the violation and necessary steps are taken based on complaints filed with the election inquiry committees. Roads, alleys, road dividers, footpaths, walls, electric poles and flyover columns proudly sport colourful posters, with electoral symbols and photographs of the candidates. Hoardings for electoral campaigns are also not rare to come by. The use of banners and festoons, fixed to establishments and infrastructure, is reported in the campaigns taking place in Rajshahi. Posters and stickers are reported to have been pasted on public transport in Sylhet. All this takes place in violation of the code that bans posters, handbills and stickers from being pasted on walls, trees, fences, electric and telephone poles or any transport, public or private. Whilst the proposition exposes the weakness of the election authorities, as people expected a good holding of the elections in the changed political context that took place in August 2024, this could also encourage the commission of the violation of other components of the code.
The Election Commission should, therefore, go beyond mere seeking explanation from errant candidates or warning them before the unwillingness of the candidates could roll into the violation of other types that would undermine the elections. An early weakness on part of the Election Commission should not cloud the electoral process.
