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70 candidates from two panels – Sammilita Parishad and Forum- will vie for the posts of 35 directors of the BGMEA
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) election for 2021-23 will be held on Sunday, that will decide the new decision of the new leadership for the association.
After an intensive campaign, 70 candidates from two panels – Sammilita Parishad and Forum- will vie for the posts of 35 directors of the BGMEA.
The election is said to be crucial as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic just may inflict similar, if not, more financial damage to the apparel industry as last year, and apparel makers are looking for strong leadership to steer them through the challenges ahead.
A total of 2,313 readymade garment (RMG) industry owners will vote in this election. Among them 1,852 are from Dhaka and 461 from Chittagong.
As per the voting schedule, the polls will be held at the Radisson Blu Water Dhaka Garden Hotel from 10:00am until 7:00pm, and at the BGMEA office in Chittagong.
ABM Shamsuddin, managing director of Hannan Group, is heading the Forum panel of current BGMEA President Rubana Huq, who is also contesting in the election from the same panel.
Sammilita Parishad will be helmed by Faruque Hassan, managing director of Giant Group and former senior vice-president of the BGMEA, as its panel leader for the election.
Jahangir Alam, managing director of Design and Source, had formed a separate panel called Swadhinata Parishad before the 2019 election to the association, seeking to challenge the nomination of a president through compromise between the two main camps.
He was previously gearing up to contest in the election again this time, but finally decided to back the Sammilita Parishad, which picked him as a candidate of their own.
The apparel makers usually elect the leader of their sector’s apex trade body for two years under the banners of Sammilita Parishad and Forum, a panel of BGMEA’s registered members.
But since September 2015, the apex trade body of the apparel sector has been selecting presidents based on the consensus between members of the two platforms.
At the end of the tenure of Md Atiqul Islam, the current mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, the consensus to choose a leader through negotiation was initiated.
Under the alleged consensus, Parishad got five posts including that of the president, first vice-president, senior vice-president, second vice-president and one vice-president.
On the other hand, the Forum was given three vice-president posts.
After Islam, Md Siddiqur Rahman ran the association from September 2015 until April 2019.
Rahman served the association for three years and seven months, after getting extension three times from the Department of Trade Organisation (DTO) of the commerce ministry.
At the end of Rahman’s tenure, the Forum platform was supposed to take the BGMEA’s helm, but the trade body had to hold an election to transit power to Forum after a group of exporters formed the Shadhinata Parishad to contest through direct voting to reinstate their voting rights.
As a result, there was an election but it was widely criticised as there was an allegation of rigging, while the leaders of the newly-formed panel were facing harassment to cast votes as well as to seek votes from the members.
However, Forum, led by Rubana Huq, the current BGMEA president, won the election and took charge for the 2019-2020 term.
(DT)
