The biennial election of the country’s apex trade body Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) will be held today amid tight security.
This year, a total of 1,608 voters from the association group and 390 voters from the chamber group would cast their votes to elect 30 directors from both groups.
A total of 63 candidates are contesting for the posts of 30 directors (15 from chamber group and 15 from association group) under the banner of two panels for the 2012-14 term election.
In the electoral process, 30 elected directors along with 18 nominated directors (nine from chamber group and nine from association group) would choose the president for two years’ tenure.
Of the two panels, Chairman of Standard Bank Ltd Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed is leading his own panel while former FBCCI president Annisul Huq is leading Ganatantrik Parishad panel. Huq, however, is not contesting the election.
Abu Bakar Siddique (Dilip), a member of the three-person election board, said yesterday that the voting would begin at 9:00am and would continue until 4:30pm without any break at the FBCCI building at Motijheel in the capital.
So far no untoward incident centring the election race has been reported, he said, hoping that a good environment would prevail during the election day.
“We have taken adequate security measures by deploying members of the security forces including Rab, police and intelligence agencies at the building,” Dilip said.
He said the election board would try to complete the vote count within the day.
Annisul Huq told The Daily Star the FBCCI election usually takes place peacefully and this year too, it would be held in a peaceful manner.
“If my panel wins the election, I will take measures for arranging direct polling system in the future elections. This is my priority,” Huq said.
Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed also hoped that a peaceful environment would exist during the polling day.
The government has already ensured adequate security measures with the deployment of security forces, he said adding “I hope nobody will try to spoil the election environment.”
“If my panel wins the polls, my first priority will be to establish the rights of the businessmen and set up a modern FBCCI secretariat with technological facilities. I will also try to introduce direct election system in the future,” Ahmed said.
FBCCI President AK Azad said “I hope the businessmen will exercise their voting rights in a democratic manner.”
Source: The Daily Star
