BGMEA poll today

‘Forum’ boycotts election

Staff Reporter

The biennial election of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s (BGMEA) will be held today (Sunday) amid the boycott of a contesting panel.

Vote casting will start at 8.00am to 4.00pm at the BGMEA’s Dhaka and Chittagong offices simultaneously without break.

The voters will have to elect 27 directors of the association from Dhaka and Chittagong regions. A total of 54 candidates have been contesting in the poll in two panels.

These panels are ‘Sammilita Parishad’, led by Md. Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin) and ‘Forum’ led by former president of BGMEA Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury (Parvez).

A total of 3028 garment owners will cast their vote in this year’s BGMEA election, of them 2443 from Dhaka and 585 from Chittagong regions, according to the Election Board.

The number of voters was 3259 in the draft voters list that earlier hung by the Board.

“Around 200 voters were excluded from the voters list due to failure of necessary documents to prove themselves as genuine voters,” said BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy, told the New Nation newsmen on Saturday.

He said identity cards of the eligible voters have already been issued by the Election Board.

When asked he said the Board has already completed all necessary corrections on the voters list and fake voters have been eliminated after proper scrutiny.

He said those who will show valid papers in support of their eligibility till the voting day would be allowed to vote in the election.

 

Murshedy, however, blamed that candidates from Forum panel have been spreading controversy and wrong information about the voters list as well as about the election.

“The voting will start on due time today and there is no reason for changing the date,” Murshedy affirmed.

 

While, talking to The New Nation ‘Forum,’ leaders confirmed yesterday that it is going to boycott today’s election over flawed voters list.

“We are not participating in today’s election because of the defective voter list,” Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury (Parvez) told The New Nation on Saturday.

Although ‘Forum’ has found huge irregularities and inconsistency in the voters list, the Election Board yet not make necessary corrections on it,” he alleged.

“So, how can we participate under an incomplete voters list,” he added.

He, however, said the Election Board was biased and tilted to the other panel, and for this it was showing unwillingness in making necessary corrections.

Earlier, leaders of ‘Forum,’ organizing a press conference sought the Prime Minister’s intervention as a row between the two contesting panels over the correction of voters had   intensified.

The panel also sought Prime Minister’s interference to delay the election for more than 10 day’s due to lack of their preparation for the voting.

Earlier, the Election Board deferred poll of the country’s apparel sector trade body scheduled on February 24, as various anomalies were detected in the voters list.

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Source: The New Nation - Independent Daily