BCB polls: Withdrawing councillors turn to ‘guardian’ sports adviser

Rafiqul Islam Babu, one of the 16 councillors alongside Tamim Iqbal who had withdrawn their nomination from the election the day earlier alleging government influence, urged Sports and Youth Adviser Asif Mahmud on Thursday to accept their three-point proposal as "a way out" of the current turmoil in the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) polls.

Rafiqul and some other aggrieved councillors arrived at the BCB premises on Thursday, hoping to have a talk over some tea with the BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, who never arrived at the office.

Later, Rafiqul and his group spoke to the media in a press conference, outlining the three proposals.

"The first proposal is that the tenure of the existing board could be extended according to the rules and regulations, which could solve a lot of the problems. Another option is to reschedule the election…. An ad-hoc committee could also be formed to run things for a short period," he said alongside organisers Yeasir Abbas and Abdullah Al Fuad Redwan.

Interestingly, Rafiqul had earlier shown concerns that the board could be run through an ad-hoc committee, but now, he sees it as a solution.

Just a day before, Tamim, as the face of the group, said that government interference was at large in the BCB polls. But on Thursday, Rafiqul spoke in a very different tone.

"Many in the media and outsiders have created an opposition, pitting our honourable adviser against one group. That's not the case. Not just cricket, the honourable adviser is the guardian of all sports," he said.

When asked if Tamim was in agreement with the proposals, he said, "I am speaking on behalf of everyone."

Asked if withdrawing was a mistake, he said, "No, I'm not saying that. We did that as a form of protest. But there is a way out of this."

The Daily Star reached out to Tamim, who left the country on Wednesday, but he refused to comment, saying he wanted to be left out of these events for now as he is dealing with a family emergency.

The 16 councillors withdrew nomination after former BCB president Faruque Ahmed filed a writ petition with the High Court on September 30, challenging the inclusion of councillors from 15 clubs which were under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in the BCB polls, and an HC bench stayed the order.

The 15 clubs were expected to be a vote bank for Tamim and Co in the polls for the 12 director positions in the Dhaka club category.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission had allowed councillors to take back their withdrawal by 12:00pm on Thursday, but no one did.

The BCB election is set to take place on October 6.