Controversy looms as BCB councillors' list due today

After two deadline extensions, the draft list of councillors for the upcoming Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) election is set to be announced today.

The significance of who gets picked as councillors is immense as on October 6, these individuals would caste their votes and elect 23 board directors in three different categories who, along with two more directors nominated by the National Sports Council (NSC), will run the country's richest sports body for the next four years.

So far, current BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul and former Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal have emerged as the only candidates for the BCB top post, however, none have made their candidacy official yet.

Even though it's yet to be revealed, the councillorship list has been at the centre of a brewing controversy over external influences in the polls.

Councillorship explainer

There are three categories of directors in the BCB: Category A: Regional, Category B: Dhaka Metropolis Clubs, and Category C: Others.

A total of 72 regional councillors -- one each from 64 districts and seven divisions -- will elect 10 Category A directors in the polls.

Category B consists of the highest number of councillors, 76, with 12 from premier division clubs, 20 from first division, 24 from second division and 20 from third division. These councillors will elect 12 board directors.

Category C will have around 42 councillors: 10 former cricketer, five former captains, five NSC nominated, and rest from educational boards, universities and other organizations votes. Two directors will get elected from here.

Tamim says

The councillor list was supposed to be finalised on September 17, but got pushed to the 19th and then finally the 22nd by the board.

The reason for these deferrals, according to a letter sent to the ministry of youth and sports signed by BCB president Bulbul on September 18, was that some of the divisional and district sports associations didn't comply with the NSC's directive of nominating councillors from only within its ad-hoc committee.

But Tamim was not convinced by the reasoning and claimed it was proof of "tremendous amount of government influence" in the election process.

"It seems to me that a tremendous amount of interference is happening from various parts of the government," Tamim said in a press conference called by an alliance of Bangladesh's district and divisional sports organisers, along with cricketers and club representatives, on Sunday.

"What we normally know from the BCB constitution is that those who are eligible, those related to sports, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) can give them councillorship. This has been the case for a number of years, a number of elections. But this time, I suddenly noticed something new: an ad-hoc committee was formed. The rule that it must come from the ad-hoc committee is not mentioned anywhere in our constitution," he added.

These ad-hoc committees were formed by the NSC after the fall of the previous Awami League regime. According to the BCB constitution, the regional associations will nominate councillors where former cricket players or cricket organisers will get the priority. There is no such provision that councillors have to part of the ad-hoc committee. However, BCB in a press release sent on Sunday evening claimed that there is no scope for anyone outside of the committee to get nominated according to their analysis of the provision.

Bulbul and vice-president Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, interestingly, were added to the Dhaka Divisional and Dhaka District Sports Association's ad-hoc committees recently and got their respective councillorships from those organisations, even though they came into the current board as NSC nominated directors.

The other allegations

The Daily Star has spoken with members of several ad-hoc committees who have claimed that many BNP politicians have secured councillorship in Category A through pressurizing the DCs.

"Ashraf Hossain Arman was given councillorship first [Sylhet Division]. He is a BNP leader and wasn't in the ad-hoc committee. But it has now changed. From the division, Rahat Shams, a former cricketer and local organizer, has now received the councillorship," a member of Sylhet Division ad-hoc committee, requesting anonymity, told The Daily Star, adding that the DC didn't even hold any ad-hoc committee meeting before finalising the councillorship.

Although nothing is confirmed yet, as of now, Tamim, who received councillorship from Old DOHS Club, is leading a panel which includes current board director Iftekhar Rahman Mithu, Fahim Sinha, BNP leader Ishraque Hossain, organizers Rafiqul Islam Babu, Masuduzzaman, Ishtiaque Sadeque and Shanian Taneem.

"We have already prepared for the election. We are going in with a panel. We haven't heard of rival panels but have heard that many might contest in the election independently," organiser Rafiqul told The Daily Star, adding that they are fearing of government interference and conspiracy in the upcoming election.

"Honestly speaking, we are yet to finalise the full panel. We will finalise it on the following day after seeing the councillorship list," he added.

What next

The much debated and awaited councillorship list is set to be revealed today. With so many allegations and counter-allegations being flung around, the list of councillors could end up indicating which way the BCB election is heading.