No such luck for Salahuddin
Former footballer Abdus Salam Murshedy was elected as Bangladesh Football Federation senior vice-president unopposed after his all three rival candidates had withdrawn their nomination papers on Wednesday. Fellow ex-player Dewan Shafiul Arefin Tutul was expected to give Salam a run for his money from the opposition panel, which had two other candidates in Manzur Kader and Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan for the post.
But Tutul, who was a defender for Abahani in most part of his playing career, allowed former Mohammedan striker Salam to score in an empty net, withdrawing his candidature alongside Manzur and Lokman.
Despite the drama-filled event on the last date of nomination paper withdrawal, the BFF elections set for April 30, however, still remained attractive as no candidate was ready to give Kazi Salahuddin, the front-runner for the president post, a similar walkover.
According to the chief commissioner for the election Mezbah Uddin, all four candidates in the president posts – Salahuddin, Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton, Golam Robbani Helal and Nurul Islam Nuru – remained in the contest.
Mohammedan’s director in-charge Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan was the only person to withdraw his nomination paper from the vice-president posts, leaving 10 candidates to contest for four posts.
In the last day of withdrawal, a total of seven executive member candidates withdrew their nomination papers to leave 32 candidates vying for 15 posts.
Current BFF president Salahuddin congratulated his lieutenant Salam for being elected unopposed.
‘I congratulated Salam for being electing unopposed. He is a lucky man and it is a preliminary win for our penal.’
Meanwhile, Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton, president candidate of Bachao Football panel, will fight till the end despite his panel giving Salam a walkover.
‘I will compete for the president post and there is no chance for me to quit the race,’ said the Member of Parliament from Narshingdi-2 constituency.
The panel leader Manzur however dropped a hint that there could be a compromise deal.
‘We are discussing a lot to make a combined committee and I hope we will reach to a good solution soon,’ he said.
A total of 134 delegates are expected to cast their vote in BFF elections.
-With New Age input
