Is the current BCB board legitimate?

The board of directors of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) might face a legitimacy crisis as they were elected under the 2017-amended BCB constitution, which entitled six top-flight Dhaka clubs to nominate two councillors each to vote, instead of the previous one-entity-one-vote system.

This preferential treatment of the clubs could be interpreted to be illegal under the country's constitution, an article which states that all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.

The current 25-member board of directors led by BCB President Nazmul Hassan Papon was elected on October 6, 2021 polls for a four-year term.

Papon was elected as one of the 12 directors from the Club Category, where six clubs -- Abahani, Prime Bank, Prime Doleshwar, Gazi Group, Sheikh Jamal and Mohammedan -- were granted two councillors each in accordance with the 2017 (amended) BCB constitution.

In Section 9, titled 'Formation of General Council', it was stated that the six clubs that make it to the Super League in the Dhaka Premier League will have two councillors each. The aforementioned six clubs had finished among the top six in the Dhaka Premier League in the season that had preceded the October elections.

The allocation of two councillors in the general council was an exception considering other national boards' constitutions, including that of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), it is categorically said that one full member shall have one vote.

Contacted on Tuesday, longstanding BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury acknowledged the exception.

He said he was not aware of the option of such multiple voting in any other national cricket association.

The BCB scrapped the multiple councillors' option in the constitution after the 2021 election in an annual general meeting in 2022.

However, lawyers said, for fairness the anomalies in the 2017 BCB constitution could still be relevant and the legitimacy of an election under it could still be questioned.

According to Supreme Court lawyer Shishir Manir, two votes for one entity is a discrimination and can be challenged in any competent court of the country.

"For the same footing, for the same purpose and in the same breadth, if an entity enjoys more than one vote, it is a discrimination under Article 27 and 28 of the constitution," said Manir.

Article 27 of the constitution, under the headline "Equality before law", states that all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.

The Daily Star tried to communicate Papon for his comment. However, his phone was switched off and he has not showed up at the BCB headquarters in Mirpur ever since the student-led mass upsurge toppled the Awami League government on August 5.

Papon was a lawmaker from the ruling AL and also the Minister for Youth and Sports in former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet.