The long over-due election of Bangladesh Cricket Board will be held at the National Sports Council today. Four directorships in two categories are up for grab, and the winners will join the 22 directors – 19 elected unopposed from Nazmul Hasan-led panel and three nominated by the NSC – in the 26-member BCB executive committee. The three probable NSC-nominated directors are Nazmul, Ahmed Sazzadul Alam and Ismail Haider Mallick.
The 12 members of Dhaka-based clubs, who were elected from the Sammilita Parishad panel, are Mahbub Anam, Enayet Hossain Siraj, Nazib Ahmed, Shawkat Aziz Russell, Nazmul Karim, Gazi Golam Murtaza Pappa, Ahmed Iqbal Hasan, Tanzil Chowdhury, Jalal Yunus, Hanif Bhuiyan, Afzalur Rahman Sinha and Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan.
Akram Khan (Chittagong division) and AZM Nasir (Chittagong DSA), Shafiul Alam Nadel (Sylhet Division), MA Awal (Barisal Division), Advocate Anwarul Islam (Rangpur Division), Kazi Enam Ahmed (Khulna DSA) and Sheikh Sohel (Khulna division) have also become BCB directors from category-1.
The councilliors of Dhaka, Rajshahi divisions along with category three, formed by representatives of different organisations, will have the chance to cast their votes from 10:00am to 4:00pm at the NSC conference room.
The election results will be declared on the same day that will determine the formation of the elected board which was dissolved on November 26 and is being run by an ad-hoc committee, headed by Nazmul, since then.
The BCB executive committee is comprised of 10 directors from category-1, 12 members from category-2 and one member from category-3 along with three government nominees.
Three former national captains – Naimur Rahman, Gazi Ashraf Hossain and Khaled Mahmud – are among the seven candidates to contest the election, with Ashraf and Khaled pitted against each other in category three.
The election had lost all its lustre after the former board president, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, decided quit the race, paving way for Nazmul to take over the presidency in all likelihood along with the members backed by him.
Monzur Kader, president of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club and councillor from
the Munshiganj DSA, and Jamalpur’s Mirza Zillur Rahman will be the other candidates of Dhaka Division along with Naimur.
For directorship from Rajshahi Division the election will be held between Rafius Shams of Rajshahi District and Saiful Alam Swapan of Pabna DSA.
‘I am confident that I will win in this election,’ said Naimur Rahman, the first Test captain of Bangladesh.
‘Though you can’t say anything unless the results are declared but still my confidence comes from the response I got from the voters,’ Naimur added. Mahmud said he expects a tough competition but his confidence comes from the fact that the whole world is going through a change that he believes will also play a part in the voters’ mind.
‘Everywhere there is change that proves people are welcoming new faces,’ said Mahmud.
‘I think the voters are intelligent enough to judge whom to entrust with the responsibility as they had seen the performance of many in the past,’ he added.
Ashraf, who had entered the BCB as an ad hoc body member in 2007 and went on to win the election in 2008 from the same category three, is looking forward to bringing some changes in the board policy, if elected.
According to his election manifesto that was e-mailed to the media he indicated that he would try his level best to increase the number of bilateral series for the national team which would help them improve their ICC ranking.
‘I would like to arrange more matches for the age-level groups that would help them gather much-needed international experience,’ added Ashraf, in his e-mail.
-With New Age input
