The long-delayed election for the two vice-president posts of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will be held at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
The three-way contest will be between three BCB directors – Mahbubul Anam, AZM Nasiruddin and Najib Ahmed. Najib added extra spice to the poll with the last minute submission of his nomination paper.
The election for the two ceremonial posts has seen the BCB headquarters at Mirpur turn into a hub of activities amidst the board directors. One of the candidates threw a lunch party for the BCB directors and high-ups while another hosted dinner yesterday.
According to several BCB sources, both Mahbubul and Nasiruddin are the favourite candidates of board president Nazmul Hasan and it is very much likely that the duo will be selected unopposed.
However, Najib’s submission of nomination paper on the very last day has added a new twist to the contest and it was learned from BCB sources that Najib was made to participate in the poll by a group of board directors with the aim of competing with Mahbubul. It is understood that a particular group inside the board believes Mahbubul, who has served as a BCB vice-president for around seven years, should make way in order to freshen the post.
This has resulted into the breaking up of the board directors into two parts.
Dhaka Tribune was able to reach Mahbubul for comments on the election but he remained tight-lipped over his competition with Najib.
“I am not making any comments on this at the moment. I will only talk after the election tomorrow (today),” said Mahbubul.
Najib – a counsellor from Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Limited – also repeated Mahbubul’s theme but said it was only due to some of his friends that he was inclined towards the election, “The competition is amongst ourselves (BCB directors). Four or five of my friends asked me to participate in the poll that is why I submitted the paper on the last day.”
Najib also said the election will not give birth to any conflict between the directors and that everyone will keep on working together in harmony.
However, a few BCB directors believe that the chances of a probable conflict inside the board is still there. Hence, in order to eliminate potential differences it was learned that suggestions over reaching a consensus regarding the two vice-president posts were made by a few directors.
The election will take place among a very selective group so at the end of the day everyone will get to know who voted for whom. Many believe this will surely create divisions among the board directors that are expected to sustain till the expiration of the existing committee.
