January 2, 2026
DHAKA – The schedule for Bangladesh’s 13th National Parliamentary Election and referendum was announced on December 11, with voting set for February 12, 2026. Since then, the campaign season has unfolded not only through rallies, statements, and nominations, but also through a growing stream of misinformation. Much of it is less concerned with persuading voters than with shaping the story of who holds momentum and who does not, an investigation by Dismislab has found.
Over the past month, these false claims have tended to fall into two familiar categories. Some have worked to cast political parties in a favorable light, attributing to them popularity, legitimacy, or international recognition.
Others have moved in the opposite direction, seeking to discredit rivals through fabricated quotes, distorted videos, or invented scandals. Most of this activity has centered on three parties: the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizen Party.
The Awami League, whose political activities have been banned, has not been absent from this ecosystem; misinformation linked to the party has also circulated, almost all of it portraying continued public support, according to the report.
Between November 16 and December 15, nine Bangladesh-based fact-checking organizations identified and debunked 63 election-related false claims. In the preceding weeks, from October 16 to November 15, the total stood at 50, an increase of roughly 26 percent. The volume is notable, but so is the consistency of form: false statements and quotes have been the most common device, attributed variously to party leaders, political activists, interim government advisers, foreign heads of government, and, increasingly, to AI-generated “ordinary citizens.”
Much of the misinformation used to glorify political parties focused on Jamaat-e-Islami and the Awami League. Several false claims portrayed Jamaat-e-Islami as enjoying international recognition or imminent political success, according to the report.
Misinformation has also followed the mechanics of the campaign itself. Candidate nominations and early campaign activity have become points of distortion, alongside broader claims questioning whether the election would take place at all.
In other cases, misinformation was also used to discredit political parties and BNP appeared to be a frequent target. One widely circulated AI-generated video showed what appeared to be a police officer claiming that Tarique Rahman had promised greater privileges if the BNP came to power. The AI-generated video was presented as a real statement, the report found.
NCP was also a target. One post alleged that Nafsin Mehanaz Azireen, a North South University student active in the July uprising, had received NCP-nomination from Dhaka-19. Others targeted Manzur Quader, an NCP nominee in Sirajganj-5, falsely alleging that he had seized Dhanmondi Club during the Awami League’s tenure and renamed it as “Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club,” in favour of the ruling family.