The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president AHM Mustafa Kamal said yesterday that he would prefer to see the board elections taking place on time.
“I want the elections to be held on time and I hope it will take place on time,” the BCB boss told the Daily Star Sport over telephone yesterday.
But the present situation hardly suggests anything positive about the holding of the elections on time because the amended board constitution is still sitting with the National Sports Council (NSC) for approval, the sports regulatory body in the country.
But Kamal was hardly bothered with it; rather he was optimistic about holding the election before the expiry of the current committee’s tenure.
“The election will be held under existing constitution if the new one does not see the light of day. But it is true that the decision should be take within a very short time if we want to hold the elections on time,” he added.
The current committee took charge on November 28 in 2008, so their tenure will expire by November 28 this year, in which case the authorities have little time to start the process.
If the elections take place under the existing constitution then the president will be nominated by the government as the existing constitution stated but if the elections are held under the new constitution the post of president will also be democratically contested in line with the recommendation of ICC (International Cricket Council) as radical changes had been brought to the constitution in the last Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the BCB last March.
The changes, especially the abolishment of the clauses which gave 15 former cricketers councillorship in the board, generated widespread condemnation in the cricket arena which is the reason the board held onto the amended constitution for long time, only sending it to the NSC for approval a few days ago.
As per the amended constitution, the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) turns into Chief Operating Officer (COO); a glorified clerk indeed.
The BCB boss recently wrote a letter to the NSC to retain the councillorship of 15 cricketers in a special quota and many say that if his recommendation is taken into consideration it will only delay the process when the amended constitution needs to be approved immediately by the NSC if they want to held the elections under the new constitution.
-With The Daily Star input
