89% vote cast in FBCCI biennial election

Over 89% of votes were cast at the biennial election of the board of directors of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) for the term 2023-2025.

The election was held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital Dhaka on Monday.

A Matin Chowdhury, chairman of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry's election board, said 1,746 votes were cast out of 1,954.

Voting began at 9:30am and continued till 4:30pm without any break to elect 23 directors.

Forty-nine candidates contested for the posts of 23 directors for the association group under the banner of two separate panels.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry has 80 posts of directors. Among them, 34 are appointed without any vote – 17 from the chamber group and 17 from the association group, and the remaining 46 are elected, with 23 coming from the chamber group and 23 from the association group.

This year, 16 directors from the chamber group and the same number of directors from the association group have been appointed after one director from each group were disqualified for a number of reasons.

Sammilito Byaboshayi Parishad Panel Leader Mir Nazim Uddin Ahmed told The Business Standard that the participation of voters reflected their interest to select their respective representatives.

He also alleged that on Sunday night his opposition group collected the voter ID cards of those who are currently staying aboard. If those votes are cast, it would make a difference in the election result.

However, the Election Board Chairman A Matin Chowdhury said there is no scope of casting a false vote. To cast a vote, the voter's picture and signature on his voter ID card and his NID card have to match. Casting votes by fooling that system is not possible.

He also said the election was held peacefully and no untoward incident took place during the voting.

A Matin Chowdhury said the election process started 30 minutes late as an association came with a High Court order that banned five voters from casting votes. However, the order was overruled after a few hours at the Supreme Court.

Byaboshayi Oikko Parishad Panel leader Mahbubul Alam said, "It is a great platform to get together. We have a road map to move forward the ongoing economic development in the coming days with the help of all members." 

Counting the votes started at 7:30pm.

A number of former FBCCI presidents have already chosen Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mahbubul Alam as the next president of the FBCCI for the term of 2023-2025.

Elections to the posts of FBCCI president, senior vice president and six vice presidents will be held on 2 August.

Former president of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association A Matin Chowdhury is chairman of the 2023–25 election board.

The other two election board members are former FBCCI director Shamsul Alam and Agrani Bank director KMN Manjurul Hoque.