Former national skipper Tamim Iqbal has been officially elected as the new president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) after the board elections held in Dhaka on Sunday. Tamim, who had already served two months as the head of the ad-hoc committee, was elected unopposed and will have a four-year term.
The election was called by the Bangladesh government under the interim body in April after the previous elected body under Aminul Islam was dissolved following a probe committee report that found him and his board member involved in corruption. The probe committee also suggested constitutional reform and Tamim said they are ready to make changes in the constitution for the betterment of Bangladesh cricket.
“There are a lot of things, loopholes, and if we all agree together (about constitutional reform) we will discuss them in the next AGM. This is not like a board of 12 or 13 people where one person says something and it is done. We have to deal with 1972 councillors. So they also have to agree. But for the betterment of Bangladesh cricket, if any constitutional changes are needed, we will definitely discuss and consider them,” said Tamim.
“It is very new for me because I still have to mix with all these people. I may not know more than half of them. I met them for the first time. So give us some time, let us discuss, and then we will find out where improvements are needed,” he said adding that transparency is at the top of their priority list.
“I hope we can be as transparent as possible. Because I am sure I do not want any of my board members to do anything that makes us controversial. From my side and from the whole board’s side, we will try to act with full honesty. Even then, I said a while ago, I am sure we will make mistakes. We are humans, we are bound to make mistakes. But how quickly we can fix those mistakes is what I look forward to,” he said.
“I will share my plans with you step by step from time to time. Some work I have already started from the ad-hoc committee stage. Hopefully we can complete those quickly,” he said.
The day-long election at the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium included physical votes and e-ballots. The 37-year-old Tamim also became the 21st president of the BCB, winning the Category 2 vote for Dhaka-based clubs, with 73 votes out of 75 councillors, to finish way ahead of the 16-candidate field for 12 director spots.
Fahim Sinha, who polled 66 votes, was elected vice-president at the first meeting of the board. The election resulted in the formation of a 25-member board to run Bangladesh cricket for the next four years.
Sayeed Ibrahim Ahmed and Israfil Khasru got 72 votes each, Masuduzzaman 70 and Yasir Mohammad Faisal Ashik 68. Fahim Sinha and Shanian Tanim Navin received 66 votes each. Sakib Ahmed Salam got 65, Asif Rabbani 64, Mirza Yasir Abbas 63, Md Rafiqul Islam Babu 53 and Prof Dr Sarker Mahbub Ahmed Shamim 41.
Syed Borhanul Hossain (40), Mohammad Amzad Hossain (32), Faiyazur Rahman (23) and Major Imroz Ahmed (20) were among the unsuccessful candidates.
Mohammad Shafiqul Alam and Shantanu Islam were elected from Khulna with 10 votes each while Mohammad Mizanur Rahman won the Barishal seat with five votes from seven councillors in the divisional contests.
Eight directors, including former national captain Minhajul Abedin Nannu, Moin Uddin Chowdhury, Sayed Bin Zaman, SM Abdullah Al Fuad, Mir Shakrul Alam Simanto, Mirza Faisal Amin, Abdul Qaiyum Chowdhury and Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir, had been elected unopposed ahead of Sunday’s election.
Two nominated directors of the National Sports Council (NSC) – Sheikh Mohammad Ruhul Amin and Mohammad Sarfaraz Ahmed – completed the 25-member board.
