Funding of Elections in Bangladesh

Spring Semester: 2020

POL 101.

Submitted to: Md. Saidur Rahman (SR3)

Date: 5th May,2020

Section: 19

By:
Samrin Hassan- 1712984630
Fariya Ahmed Rahee – 2013299630
Sakibul Islam- 2014002649
Sumaiya Hasan- 2013247649
MD. Mahbubur Rahman- 2012941049

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Contents
.........................................................................................................................................................1
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Policy review...................................................................................................................................4
Comparing Election Financing........................................................................................................6
CASE STUDY.................................................................................................................................8
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Background
In Bangladesh, characteristically, there are two major ideological groups in the political sector:
Bangladesh Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Ideological groups in Bangladesh
have hopelessly neglected to set up just framework inside their particular gatherings. The
gathering authority tend to rehearse fascism in running gathering issues. Bangladesh has an
immature political culture which faces high corruption and it faces problems in practicing proper
democracy. In Pakistan, democratic culture was almost absent. As a result, the struggle for
independence for the people of Bangladesh became intertwined with the struggle for democracy.
In fact, the 1971 liberation war, in its immediate sense, was a result of Pakistani ruling clique’s
unwillingness to accept the verdict of the 1970 election.
Transparency in political finance is a powerful tool for identifying the possibilities of corruption. 
Political parties spend a lot of money for their day to day activities and campaigns which are
money that are meant to be used for beneficial causes for the citizens of Bangladesh. However, it
is quite evident and a majorly democratic flaw in the Bangladesh governance that the sources
and proper use of funding by the political parties is not transparent. Funding sources sound be
transparent and known to the public to uphold democracy, trust and for the security of the nation.
Irrespective of the importance of this in relation to good and fair governance, Bangladesh
political parties are far from responsible in maintaining their funding and expenditure and barely
keep any financial records on a periodic basis. Sources of funds and actual amount spend for the
nation rarely match and this directly questions the integrity of the government.
While it is important that political funding is accounted for, there is conflicting opinions
regarding proper legislatives in the field of political elections and its funding. For example, in the
western regions, most of the funding comes from their own savings and donations but they
always make sure that they are well accounted for. That is one of their first step towards a trusted
relationship with the people. However, it is rather quite the opposite in Bangladesh. From an
undisclosed procedure on how majority of the funds are received, political individuals barely
bother to keep any track of how distribute it among candidates. Most of the spending are given
away in the name of donation or paid expenses which are usually higher than incurred.
Out of all the different political campaigns and events, electoral finance is seen to have the least
transparent funding sources and uses. Due to no audit balance sheet, it is impossible to account
for the money used during the elections and how much in donations are actually raised. This
issue is made even worse and dangerous considering the fact that political figures use extortion
against the rich or businessmen during elections to raise more funds. Huge sums of money are
said to be in donations whereas they been obtained forcefully and it is important for the political
figures to make sure such activities are not brought to light or that the extorted money cannot be
traced to the sources. The nature of corruption had trickled so far into Bangladesh politics that it
is of utmost importance only to the political parties that they keep their sources of funding non-
transparent to cover for their corrupted behavior. Often cases see these figures have back-up
from the police making it unsafe and almost impossible for the businessmen or general people to
deny or say so. Overtime, this has been accepted in Bangladesh political culture. However, this
poses a great risk to the nation’s security and is against the type of governance for which our
Liberation War took place – democracy.
Firstly, the reporting made to the Election Commission is barely adequate and the balance sheets
do not match. They are provided without any in-depth analysis or any reasoning. Secondly,

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majority of the election candidates barely follow the Representation of the People’s Order
(RPO). Respecting the legislations of your own country goes a long way in showing how much
you are willing to do for the country but this lacks greatly in all the political parties to the very
core. Moreover, there is no possible way to effectively monitor the financial movements by the
political individuals and/or parties due to absence of any functional system of monitoring and
also corruption existing from the lowest point to the very top. Every different stage is intertwined
and has a hand in upholding this non-transparency in electoral finance.
Another issue to be concerned about is how the process of election candidates is becoming more
of a money making mechanism. Wealthy businessmen of the country by the nominations and
beating political veterans to the race which gives them a scope at being a part of the corrupted
structure and make money over their tenure which will go unaccounted for. The culture of
buying and selling the electoral nominations is a part of all the political parties and is another
reason why it keep circling back and it has been impossible for the nation to tackle the corruption
that exists. This is not only preventing true politicians who are willing to only serve the nation
from getting the seat but is also a negative motivation for the candidates to not amend their
behavior as the non-transparency is well covered for. This also exists because of how centralized
the decision making takes place in the political parties and lack of internal democratic practices.
After the 1996 elections, nearly 95% of the MPs did not submit the individual expenditure
report, and after the 2001 elections none of the parties submitted reports of electoral expenses.
Interestingly, after the 2008 elections most candidates and parties submitted their electoral
accounting reports before the EC. (The Daily Star)
All in all, this is a major drawback of the political structure of Bangladesh and a question for the
integrity of the government and the safety of the citizens of the country.
Samrin Hassan (1712984630)

Policy review
Election is an important issue for the formation of government. In almost all states, several
political parties are formed to form a government. The goal of these political parties is to form a
government and govern the state as they themselves. To form a government, each political party
has to participate in the elections and win by winning a majority in the election. Election is a
process by which people can choose their candidate or preference in a representative democracy
or other form of government. The election process is accomplished by following a number of
rules and regulations. What will be the election procedure, the election policies, the rules are all
mentioned in the constitution of Bangladesh. The Constitution of Bangladesh established the
republic a democracy, declaring the same as a principle of fundamental state policies. The basis
of governance through representative local government is a crucial process for the country. It
guarantees the right of the people to elect their representatives who take charge of the state. All
the elections are conducted by the election commission. In every election all the political parties
have to spend a large amount of money to perform different election activities. Political parties
need money to carry out their day to day political activities and they spend a lot of money in
their campaigns and other purposes. Though the sources of political parties' funding are far from

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transparent in Bangladesh, there are some laws and policies about election funding, expenses
which are mentioned in the Constitution of Bangladesh. They are:
➢The election expenses incurred by a candidate during the election period should be included in
the election expenses. The election expenditure made by any person on behalf of a candidate
would be considered to be an expenditure incurred by the candidate himself.
➢Each candidate must submit to the Returning Officer the appropriate details of the possible
source of his / her election fund along with the nomination paper. It will also include own
income, sum to be borrowed or received as voluntary contribution from any relations or others or
any organization.
➢Within ninety days of the completion of election in all constituencies all the candidates have to
submit a proper list of the election expenses to the Election Commission.
➢Each candidate participating in the election is required to include their income report, date
information of each donation, value of each donation and name of each donor.
➢Each candidate should manage the election expenses through a separate account with the
scheduled bank, run by the agent/candidate.
➢The bill and receipt voucher of every payment of more than 100taka will be maintained by the
election agent and election expenses including the expenditure incurred for a candidate by the
nominating political party shall not exceed Taka 1,500,000.
➢The highest amount a political party may spend during the election 4.5 core taka (if the
number of candidates is more than two hundred), 3 core taka (if the number of candidates is
more than more than one hundred but less than two hundred), 1.5 core taka (if the number of
candidates is more than fifty but not more than one hundred), 75 lacs taka (if the number of
candidates is not more than fifty).
➢No portion of election expenditure as prescribed by the Election Commission cannot be used
for printing a poster with more than one color or bigger than the size prescribed by the election
commission which also makes it illegal to erect any gate, making any banner using any cloth,
setting up more than one election camp in any union, ward, posting of posters on walls or any
installation, and using motorized vehicles for campaigns.
➢From the date of publication of the notification till the end of the election, all the candidates
have to maintain proper accounts of income and expenditure.
➢A party cannot receive any donation amounting to more than taka 20,000 unless it is made by
cheque. Every party must indicate any donation above 5,000-taka name and address of the donor
and nature of donation.
➢If any party, failing to comply with the obligation to submit the statement of election
expenses, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to 10,000 taka and cancellation of
registration.
➢It will be considered illegal to accept any kind of donation from a source other than the
prescribed one. The punishment shall be two to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment with fine.

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➢The statements and documents will be open to inspection by any person on payment of the
prescribed fee during one year from the date of their receipt.
➢The election commission will publish financial reports of the legislative elections campaigns
on their website.
Political parties in our country never want to disclose full information about their election funds.
This is a very sensitive issue for them. Political parties in Bangladesh are perceived as actors
who manipulate their powerful positions to extort bribes, to offer members and followers
rewarding positions in the public sectors, or to channel the public resources into the hands of the
party leaders or supporter Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) found that within the
prevailing political culture political finance is a covert matter for the party organizations. None
of the parties disclose financial information even within the party. Usually party members,
central leaders and members of parliament raise party funds. These funds are collected from
businessmen and industrialists. In many cases funds are raised through extortion. Funds are also
raised through inter-party contributions as part of the formation of alliances during elections.
Now-a-days, the process of candidate selection has turned out to be a money making mechanism
in Bangladeshi politics which allows wealthy business people to take the center stage in politics
depriving veteran politicians. All the major political parties have the culture of buying and
selling nominations. Recently the parties have registered with the Election Commission and are
required to submit their audit reports annually.
MD. Mahbubur Rahman- 2012941049

Comparing Election Financing

Political parties, when concern comes towards election they need to raise a fund or an amount of
money to use in their campaigns. And why they need to do that because they need to pay for the
staff who are working for them, to create an advertising campaign, to pay for travel and some
other values to concern. Now here is the major question “Is all procedure clean and legitimate?”
and “How other states work?”
If working with a point by point arrangement, it gets clear how election financing works in
different states and how legitimate it is in real. Now there are many contrasting statements with
this particular topic “Who contributes?” and “Where does the unaccounted money come from?”
Election financing focuses out the political contribution.
BANGLADESH: Political contribution comes from individual donors who are the citizens of
this country but they can only contribute BDT 10 per voter. Another source of donation is
corporate donor and foreign donor. A candidate can spend a maximum amount of BDT 25 lakh
for campaigning. In the Bangladesh federal election Awami League receives hefty donations
from the corporate sector. But it is not even near to the amount a particular party will spend on
the General Election, 2018. MP Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury said, “The BDT 25 lakh
expenditure will have a major impact on election, as candidates in more populated constituencies
will not be able to spend the same amount per voter as those who run less populated
constituencies.” Therefore, the fund increases in any means.
CANADA: Now focusing on Canadian elections, fundraising happens in three ways: public
funding, Individual finding and public coffers. Foreign actors, corporations and trade unions

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cannot contribute in Canadian elections less or unless those particular people satisfy these two
conditions. First, if he or she is a Canadian; Second, if he or she is a permanent resident. Now
here is an interesting fact, after donating money to a particular campaign or candidate, they get
some money back as tax credits. A Canadian can donate USD 1,600 to an individual candidate or
campaign. Political parties and candidates can receive a reimbursement of fifty to sixty percent
of election expenses if they are elected or if they get two percent of vote.
INDIA: Indian election funding happens by individual and corporations’ donations. But it is not
easy to follow the money trail. Traditionally, political candidates or campaigns receive donation
or contribution in cash, draft and electoral trusts. But when BJP held the power, they made
frequent significant changes to these systems. Among those the most high-profile changes was
the creation of ‘electoral bonds,’ which allow individuals or companies to deposit funds in a
political party’s bank account at the State Bank of India. Now donors can purchase as many
bonds as they please and their identity is not revealed. Political parties must announce the
amount of money they have received through the bonds, but not the funders’ identity. Political
parties in India get their hefty funds from foreign donors. It is now no longer hidden. For
instance, BJP in their last election their income rate rose into RS. 1,027.34 billion. And their
expenditure was RS. 758.47 billion, which is 74% of their total income. Now BJP is the richest
political party among all the others. This fact indicates how corrupted the whole system is. Also
BJP has discontinued all the non-profit organization by accusing them for messing the rules.
Lack of transparency in political funding introduces corruption.
BANGLADESH: The political parties in Bangladesh, regardless of their size and ideology,
hardly keep any account of their funding sources and expenditures. How Bangladesh collects a
huge sum of money is generally undisclosed and a good example of pointing to non-
transparency. The political parties in Bangladesh collect individual, local and foreign donations
from the supporters, admirers and business and industrial financiers. The major political parties
raise funds through selling nominations to the affluent candidates of the parties in exchange of a
hefty sum. Reports carrying the fund data that are submitted to the Election Commission (EC)
are far from the actual amount and are never the original data. For the 11th general election in
Bangladesh they need BDT 700 billion according to the EC. Transparency is needed to prevent
anti-state activities.
CANADA: As for Canada their election funding system is quite working but who can stop
corruption. In 2010–2011, it was discovered that corporations had been channeling money to
major political parties by camouflaging the corporate funds as individual political contributions
made by their employees, bypassing the political fundraising laws. Money is such an important
resource in elections the reason why party finance laws are often controversial. Here they got
transparency but not quite enough to stop corruption.
INDIA: It is no hidden truth that now India is completely vulnerable to foreign influences. “We
have been saying for the sake of transparency, we have to make it compulsory for political
parties to disclose all their donations, down to the last rupee.”_ Prashant Bhushan, lawyer. “No
country with any self-respect would want its political parties to be controlled by foreign money,”
Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of ADR, said. India’s donation system barely gets disclosed. All hefty
donations are just a deal of give and take. That’s the basic reason why transparency is needed.
Why India’s election funding will remain non-transparent is because of these reasons: Foreign

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Contribution (Regulation) act, 2010 passed without any debate and electoral bonds because they
can be highly anonymous. Therefore, it is pure non-transparent, corrupted. Even if they raise
public funding there is no way the system could cut out the corruption in the Modi government.
The ruling BJP is the richest of all parties in India; they have made the whole system a business.
All in all, Bangladesh is in a situation that is far from transparent election funding so as India
because the whole system is far from anti-corruption. But Canada’s election funding system has
a great deal of transparency from the following two other countries: Bangladesh and India.
Corporate donors’ contribution has significantly increased in election funding in both countries
India and Bangladesh. If to compare election financing with Canada, obviously Canada scored
the best.
Fariya Ahmed Rahee – 2013299630

CASE STUDY
As key institutions of democracy, political parties seldom practice the desired level of
transparency, disclosure and accountability in terms of managing their finance. This is especially
evident in developing countries such as Bangladesh, where the issue is neither among the priority
agenda of the parties themselves or of the Government, nor is it amongst issues that have drawn
any significant public interest until recently. One of the key reasons why political finance
remains almost a taboo in Bangladesh is that politics has become a “winner-takes-all” game and
indeed a profit-making investment, where parties and candidates taking part in elections invest
huge funds to gain power, and therefore, transparency and disclosures are the last thing in the
agenda of political parties.
Whatever, the last few years saw a significant opening for change with respect to transparency in
political and electoral financing in Bangladesh. Efforts were made by the Election Commission
and the then caretaker government to bring the financing of political parties and their election
expenses under state scrutiny and monitoring through a set of new laws and rules under the
amended RPO and other relevant rules. Through making registration of the political party’s
mandatory for taking part in the elections, efforts have been made to make parties along with the
candidates in elections more accountable to the state as well as to the citizens. Transparency in
political finance helps control the influence of money in politics, empowers other social actors to
scrutinize whether the information submitted by parties is complete, accurate and in accordance
with the law, and ensures citizens’ right to know about the ties between their representatives and
those who lend them financial support.
Here is a recent case about the funding of 11 th general election. The Election Commission is
presently organizing the 11th general election, and recently revealed it will need around Tk700
crore to arrange polls, which is more than double the amount spent on the 10th general election.
The commission has already approved the allocation of the necessary funds for the upcoming
parliamentary polls likely to be held in late December.
Of the total expenditure, commission officials said about Tk400 crore will be spent on
maintaining law and order, while the remaining Tk300 crore will be used to conduct the election
as per projected estimates.

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In the 2014 general election, the commission said the nation spent Tk283 crore, including Tk200
crore on maintaining law and order and Tk83 crore on conducting the election in 147
constituencies, because the remaining 153 constituencies went uncontested.
The commission is set to announce the 11th general election’s schedule next Thursday, as it has
a constitutional obligation to complete all election procedures by January 28, 2019.
The polls will be held at around 40,199 polling stations across the country. Alongside law
enforcement, 700,000 polling personnel – including 40,199 presiding officers, 80,000 assistant
presiding officers and five to six hundred thousand polling officers – will be required to hold the
countrywide election.
Of the allocated funds, Tk300 crore will be used to conduct the next election, Tk160 crore will
be spent for the 700,000 polling personnel, and Tk30 crore on printing ballot papers for all 300
constituencies, said commission officials.
Besides, Tk10 crore will be spent on procuring other printing materials, and Tk8 crore on
procuring stamp pads, different types of seals and ink.
Election Commission Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed said: “The Election Commission has
approved the sector-wise allocation of Tk700 crore to conduct the general election and maintain
law and order.”
Some 104.2 million voters are expected to cast their votes in the election.
During the 2014 general election, the polling cost Tk283 crore, as the commission did not have
to host polls in 153 constituencies. The number of country’s voters was around 91.9 million
during the 10th general election.
“But this time the cost will be more than double as the EC will have to arrange balloting in 300
constituencies across the country,” said an official wishing anonymity. 
He furthered the total expenditure was Tk165.5 crores in the 9th general election, while Tk72.71
crores in the 8th general election. The first parliamentary elections held in 1973 cost Tk81.36
lakhs, with 35.2 million voters.
According to statistics provided by Election Commission officials, Bangladesh had spent Tk2.52
crores for the second general election, Tk5.16 crores for the third election, Tk5.15 crores for the
fourth election, Tk24.37 crores for the fifth election, and Tk37.04 crores for the sixth general
election.
In fact from the funding discussion, we could raise a question about some case of donors and
political parties. Why do political parties need donations and what benefits do donors have to
offer?
Since donations are the only way they are allowed to garner funds, they reach out to the populace
to make the donations which include all strata of society including Corporations and Private
Companies.

Corporates on the other hand donate not only to political parties but also to various other causes
out of their responsibility to give back something to the society which contributes to its growth
and profits. Large Companies also have a mandatory social responsibility fund as per the laws to
spend for the uplift end of the society. So almost all Corporates donate to all the political parties
regularly to appear unbiased towards one or the other.

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Corporates often try to prop up candidates who would on winning lobby for their interests in the
Parliament and help pass suitable legislations. For this the Corporates normally take care of the
campaigns expenses by donating cash or kind including manpower and resources.

Now, do these donations actually result in quid pro quo? In my view no. Yes, there is always
some favoritisms shown to people who have supported the party.

The large-scale corruption we are taking about is hardly part of donations made to political
parties. There normally are actual quid pro quo deals between some leaders and the business
houses for specific purposes and maybe a small amount finds its way into the party coffers as
donations and the rest is pocketed by such leaders in their personal capacity.

Sakibul Islam- 2014002649

Recommendations
Political finance is a very sensitive issue in Bangladesh. Political parties need money to carry out
their day-to-day political activities and spend a lot of money on their campaigns and other
activities. But the source of political parties' funds is far from transparent in Bangladesh. Party
fund is usually generated by members, central leaders and MPs. Funds are also collected directly
from leading businessmen and industrialists. Large amounts of money are believed to be raised
from the candidates seeking nomination in elections. The source of the funds of political parties
should be transparent and accessible to the citizens for the sake of democracy, good governance
and the safety of the nation. Perhaps the lack of transparency in political funding may lead to the
interest of the public in corruption and practice. In fact, political parties in Bangladesh rarely
account for their source and expenditure, regardless of their size and ideology. The income and
expenditure record is not maintained transparently. None of the parties have done external
auditing till date. However, as a precondition of political party registration according to the
amended lows (RPO 2008 and Political Party Registration Rules 2008), all the registered parties
have to do yearly audit. This has created an opportunity to make political finance more
transparent. This is why so many injustices and corruption in our country are caused. There is a
lot of debate in our political arena about the funding of political parties, especially the cost of
campaigning. What they spend for their campaign is the same as budgets for big projects in
Bangladesh. In the election campaign, political parties spend so much money that it can do a
development job in the country. These actions have led to a huge loss of revenue in our country's
election. In Western democracy, political parties and various sources have a significant share of
their election expenses, including personal fortunes and donations, but they usually do well. But
political parties in Bangladesh rarely bother to maintain their sources and expenses. Because they
can't answer this, one of the reasons is the lack of transparency among them. Without any
accountability process, millions and millions of taka are transferred without any accounting in
the name of political donations. That's why our country is losing a lot of money every year from
its own revenue. The revenues that could be used for the development of our country's people
and the overall development of the country. The process of funding political parties in
Bangladesh is usually kept anonymous. It is quite clear that the fund raising activities that are
normally going on in the country are a sham. Political parties in the country collect independent,
local and overseas donations from supporters, fans and businesses and industry funds. In
exchange for big numbers, the party's well-known candidates are sold and raised funds by big

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political parties, which are now open-minded. After all, the question may arise: where is the law,
can the law not bring them to justice? They have completely blocked the law of how to punish
them by money. The law is nothing but a silent audience when it comes to the law. It is
considered corrupt in the funds of all the major political parties in Bangladesh. Because there is
no specific proof of their funds and they have no specific reason for the money to come. That is
why political parties are called corrupt. Political funding is more useless when elections are held.
There is no check balance sheet because the source of money is rarely available for political
parties. Also, reporting on money between parties or the Election Commission is very
inadequate. The report submitted to the Election Commission is in a far-reaching and detailed
manner. The disclosure of election expenses for parties or candidates is more expensive than the
actual expenditure and thus not reliable. Because political parties never give their true money to
the Election Commission, they keep it secret. Candidates are represented by the People's Order
(RPO). There are very few effective monitoring systems for the state and civil society. Now, it
seems that the process of electing candidates has become a money making process in Bangladesh
politics, allowing wealthy businessmen to take center stage in politics by depriving politicians of
years. All major political parties have a culture of buying and selling nominations. The decision
to stop the trade of candidates for money, the decision-making process and the lack of internal
democratic practices among the political parties in Bangladesh seem to be the result of the
centralized control. The culture of making money in politics is the result of internal party
financial transactions. Political leaders are not responsible for financial transactions or
contributions of members. So far, the question of funding of political parties has been seen as
sensitive. Political parties never disclose their source of money. No group is too small to have
any financial information. Usually direct funds are collected from businessmen and industrialists
of political parties. Such funds are often donated voluntarily, and in many cases through funds.
Under a new law, political parties have been registered with the Election Commission and their
audit report will be submitted year after year. Audit of party funds is only in leaflets and has not
yet been implemented. Reporting on election funding is a new phenomenon in Bangladesh.
Political parties in Bangladesh rarely follow the rules. The political parties should make sincere
attempts to shift from the present political culture of secrecy to that of openness. CSOs should
highlight the issue of transparency in political finance and develop awareness raising programs
on this issue. The CSOs involved in election monitoring should observe electoral financing and
expenditure to reduce the electoral expenditures. The media should conduct and publish
investigative reports on political and electoral financing. More investigative reports should be
published on electoral expenditure of candidates during elections. The electronic media should
disclose information on the monetary value of the coverage given on the political parties. The
corporate sector should voluntarily disclose information on the donation made to the political
parties.
Sumaiya Hasan- 2013247649

References
 Chowdhury, F. (2020). Funding of political parties. Retrieved 29 April 2020, from
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/funding-of-political-parties

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  (2020). Retrieved 27 April 2020, from http://www.ru.ac.bd/socialsc/wp-
content/uploads/sites/69/2018/08/5.-Qumrunnaher-Ok-77-86.pdf

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