Although Bangladesh is a populous and formally democratic country, internet penetration remains low and many politicians and legislators do not use social media or other forms of instant communication, making it difficult for common people to reach out to them.
A new platform containing all the information of the members of parliament and different means for communication with them is giving Bangladeshis the option of contacting their local elected representatives, however. Some lawmakers have already begun responding to public queries.
A frequently used phrase in Bangladesh these days is ‘Digital Bangladesh’, which is the idea that IT can be used in administration and governance to ensure transparency, accountability and answerability at all levels of society and state.
Although there is visible progress in terms of Bangladesh's digitization in other areas, many elected MPs and government officials are still not using digital means to make themselves accountable to common citizens.
According to recent news reports, although many of the MPs have Facebook IDs or pages, they are not official, and are mostly run by fans. Only seven Facebook profiles and two Twitter accounts belonging to MPs are verified. Most MPs therefore are not active on popular social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter while many citizens complain that MPs are not reachable via the official contact phone or email provided on the Bangladesh Parliament website.
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