No surprises as Bulbul re-elected BCB chief
The board of directors' election of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) ended without any surprises yesterday as former national captain Aminul Islam Bulbul was re-elected unopposed as president for the next four years.
Bulbul, who had earlier led the board for around four months in his first term, will now lead a 25-member board of directors, finalised through an election held at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka on Monday.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. On the day, 17 directors were elected in three categories, while six others had already been elected unopposed from the district and division category earlier. Two more directors -- Ishfaq Ahsan and Yasir Mohammad Faysal Ashik -- joined the board as National Sports Council (NSC) nominated directors.
Although neither Ishfaq nor Yasir were on the final voter list, they received NSC nominations after Salman Hossain and Ibrahim Khalilullah resigned as councillors. Election Commissioner Kazi Nazrul Islam, who is also the executive director of NSC, confirmed the development to The Daily Star.
Following the polls, the newly formed board held its first meeting, where director Faruque Ahmed proposed Bulbul's name as the new president and he was elected unopposed.
Former BCB president Faruque and Barishal Division's director Shakhawat Hossain were also elected unopposed as vice-presidents.
Former vice-president Fahim, who was expected to retain his position, did not contest.
Bulbul said the board meeting, adjourned yesterday, would resume today at the BCB headquarters at noon. He also expressed optimism about announcing the chairmen of the 23 standing committees today.
"The important thing is that our board is completely new -- you could say it was born today," Bulbul said in his first press conference after getting re-elected.
"We will evaluate everyone's skill sets, decide who fits which department best, and hopefully announce the committees tomorrow [today]."
Bulbul also vowed to invite all stakeholders to work together for the betterment of Bangladesh cricket.
"We all want to work together for Bangladesh cricket. Whether someone is in the cricket board or not, we will invite all stakeholders to work for Bangladesh cricket and assist us."
The outcome of the election seemed like a formality after several candidates -- including former national skipper Tamim Iqbal -- withdrew their nominations, alleging government interference and conspiracies.
Two major controversies clouded this year's election. The first arose when Bulbul sent a letter to the Ministry of Youth and Sports on September 18, admitting that several divisions and districts had failed to properly nominate councillors through ad-hoc committees and thus the BCB twice extended the nomination deadline.
The second controversy involved 15 Dhaka Metropolis clubs, whose councillorships were repeatedly cancelled and reinstated within a week, triggering protests and eventually leading to nearly 20 candidates withdrawing from the race.
Tamim, representing Old DOHS Sports Club, was among 34 club voters who abstained from voting. In total, 115 out of 156 voters cast their votes -- both through e-voting and in person.
Earlier in the day, Bulbul and Fahim were elected from Category-1 (Dhaka Division) with 15 votes each. Mukhlesur Rahman and Hasanuzzaman were elected from Rajshahi and Rangpur Divisions, respectively, each securing seven votes.
In the club category, Iftekhar Rahman Mithu and Manzur Alam retained their positions from the previous board with 34 and 39 votes, respectively. Others elected from this category included Faruque (42), Ishtiaque Sadeque (42), Adnan Rahman Dipon (40), Fayazur Rahman (40), Abul Bashar (40), Amzad Hossain (41), Shahnian Taneem (42), Mokhsedul Kamal (41), M Nazmul Islam (37), and Mehrab Alam Chowdhury (41).
In Category-3, former national captain Khaled Mashud Pilot defeated Debabrata Paul of Jahangirnagar University by 35–7 votes to secure his place on the new board.
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