Businesspersons Dominate New Bangladesh Parliament, Average Age 59

"Businesspersons will make up more than half of the new parliament, according to affidavits filed with the Election Commission during the election," The Daily Star reported.

Altogether, 178 lawmakers declared "business" as their profession in their affidavits, where, except for two of them who did not declare their incomes, the average annual income of these lawmakers was Tk 1 crore (over Rs 74 lakh), it added.

The second-largest group identified by the newspaper is lawyers, with 40 of them elected to parliament. Their average annual income is Tk 26.8 lakh (close to Rs 20 lakh).

Meanwhile, 14 of the elected representatives identified themselves as farmers or involved in agriculture, with an average annual income of Tk 11.7 lakh (about Rs. 8.7 lakh).

The lowest-earning farmer named in the report is Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami's Md Golam Rabbani of Rangpur-5, who earns Tk 40,000 (less than R. 30,000) per year. However, he has movable assets worth Tk 22.9 lakh, while his wife has movable assets worth Tk 16.5 lakh.

At least 28 teachers were elected to parliament, where all but four of them were from the Jamaat, it further said.

Among others, there were "at least 10 doctors" - three from the Jamaat and the rest from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

While the highest-earning doctor is Jamaat's Md Moselehuddin Farid, "who practices and earns abroad", the average income of the doctor-lawmakers is Tk 18 lakh (above Rs 13 lakh) annually.

Other members of parliament include retired professionals, private jobholders, and scientists.

The top earner in parliament is the BNP's Zakaria Taher from Cumilla-8, with an annual income of Tk 59.1 crore, shared the report, adding that he also has the highest movable assets, amounting to Tk 172.3 crore.

"Zakaria, however, is an outlier. The second-highest earner is Dhaka-8's Mirza Abbas from the BNP, whose annual income is Tk 9.26 crore," it further said.

Meanwhile, according to the report, the lawmaker with the lowest income is also from the BNP - Noakhali-4's Md Shahjahan, whose annual income is Tk 32,822 from share investments.

In all, only nine people identified themselves as politicians, which included BNP Chairperson Tarique Rahman, projected as the future Prime Minister.

In terms of age, The Business Standard newspaper quoted a Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) report where the average age of the winners in the 13th general election is said to be 59, which it described as a "comparatively young" parliament.

The TIB released on Monday a report titled "13th National Parliamentary Election Process and Affidavit-Based Observation" where the anti-graft body said that among the elected MPs, 3.03 per cent are aged 25-34, 6.73 per cent as between 35-44, 18.86 per cent aged 45-54, 33.67 per cent between 55-64, and 36.03 per cent being over 65 years old.

It also added that 209 members have been elected to the Parliament, which has a total strength of 300, for the first time in this election, where both the prospective Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition are entering it for the first time, it mentioned.

- IANS