Even as the much-awaited election for the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s (BGMEA) new committee for 2021-23 is scheduled to be held on 4 April, as per reports, Syed Ferhat Anwar (Director of the Dhaka University’s Institute of Business Administration), who is the election board Chairman, has resigned from his position.
Syed Ferhat, reportedly, submitted his resignation letter to the BGMEA President Dr. Rubana Huq on 10 March (Wednesday).
As per media reports, which cited unnamed sources, Ferhat’s resignation followed a so-called disagreement on the issue of placement of candidates’ names on the ballot paper.
Reports claimed that the names of contestants are placed through a lottery and the winner gets the priority in placing their names on top or as they wish usually — on the ballot paper, the winning panel gets to place the names of its candidates from 1 to 35, while the other team members’ names are placed from 36 to 70 — even as the election commission held a lottery to place the names of candidates and declared a panel winner.
However, the losing party (panel) was, reportedly, absent during the lottery, as per sources, cited in the report, which underlined that later, the panel raised questions about the transparency of the lottery and sought clarification about the process, following which a debate on the matter took place, and Syed Ferhat tendered his resignation.
