Bangladesh’s fact-checking group, Dismislab, has refuted allegations of election manipulation targeting the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies. The organization’s analysis revealed that claims of a “deep state” conspiracy causing the loss of dozens of seats were unfounded. Contrary to social media assertions, data showed that only 22 seats, not 53 as claimed, were decided by narrow margins of fewer than 5,000 votes.
A viral post questioning Jamaat’s acceptance of election results sparked the controversy, alleging a significant reduction in projected seats due to manipulation. Dismislab’s analysis, based on seat-wise results from a leading Bangladeshi newspaper, debunked these claims. The data indicated that both major alliances experienced narrow victory margins, with Jamaat and its allies winning 24 seats in closely contested races.
Despite lacking evidence, these claims spread widely on social media platforms through individual and coordinated campaigns. Various posts and comments, including those on Facebook and media outlets, amplified the narrative of election engineering. Dismislab’s review of these posts concluded that the narratives aimed to suggest Jamaat would have secured more seats without alleged interference.
