Trade
6 years ago

Voting ends in BGMEA election

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The election to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) for 2019-21 ended on Saturday.

Some 1204 votes were cast in Dhaka and 288 in Chattogram in the election, sources said.

BGMEA members started voting to elect new leadership at its headquarters in the city at 8:00am and continued till 4:00pm in the two centres.

BGMEA has a total of 1955 voters - 1597 from Dhaka and 358 from Chattogram.

Zahangir Alam, convenor of Swadhinata Parishad panel, alleged, "Two of his agents could not come as they were given threats."

"We wanted to make two of our candidates agents, but the election commission did not allow it."

Sammilita Parishad and Forum have jointly formed a panel with Mohammadi Group Managing Director Rubana Huq in the lead.

Sammilita Parishad and Forum traditionally compete for BGMEA leadership, while Swadhinata Parishad, a new platform formed last year, started campaigning and submitted nominations for this election.

The incumbent board under Siddiqur Rahman's leadership took over for a two-year term on September 22, 2015 through negotiations between Sammilita Parishad and Forum. Sammilita Parishad holds 19 posts of the directorship, including the presidency, and Forum 16 posts.

Despite its two-year tenure, the existing board still remains in the office for more than three years and a half as the government extended its tenure thrice. As per the negotiations, the Forum was supposed to take the BGMEA's leadership for the next term.

The election board of BGMEA on March 06 announced nine of the trade body’s directors in Chattogram as elected unopposed for the term.

The uncontested elected directors are: AM Chowdhury Selim, Anjan Shekhar Das, AM Mahbub Chow, Mohammad Atique, Mohammed Abdus Salam, Mohammed Meraj-E-Mostafa, Enamul Aziz Chowdhury, Mohammed Musa and Khondaker Belayet Hossain.

Some 44 candidates - 18 from Swadhinata Parishad, 12 from Sammilita Parishad and 14 from Forum - contested for the posts of 26 directors in Dhaka.

The BGMEA is being run by a 35-member board of directors, including seven vice-presidents.


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