BGMEA elections see 87pc voter turnout

The biennial elections of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) concluded on Saturday with an overall voter turnout of 87.5% in the Dhaka and Chattogram regions.

Voting was held from 8am to 5pm at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka and the Radisson Blu Hotel in Chattogram.

According to sources, 1,377 out of 1,561 eligible voters cast their ballots in Dhaka (88.21%), while Chattogram saw 254 out of 303 votes cast (83.83%). A total of 1,631 out of 1,864 members voted across both centres.

Vote counting was underway at the time of reporting, and results are expected later.

This year, 76 candidates from three panels—Forum, Sammilito Parishad and the newly formed Oikya Parishad—contested for 35 director positions. Both the Forum and Sammilito Parishad panels fielded full slates of 35 candidates each, while Oikya Parishad nominated six candidates.

The elected 35 directors will later select the BGMEA president, vice presidents and other office bearers for the 2025–2027 term.

The Forum Panel is led by Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, managing director of Rising Fashions and a former BGMEA vice president. The Sammilito Parishad is headed by Md Abul Kalam, managing director of Chaiti Group and a former BGMEA director.

Of the 35 director posts, 26 are allocated to Dhaka-based candidates, and nine to candidates from Chattogram.

In the last BGMEA election held on 9 March 2023, Sammilito Parishad won all 35 posts, with SM Mannan Kochi elected president.

He later resigned in August following a student-led mass movement that led to the fall of the Hasina-led government.

The then-senior vice president, Khandoker Rafiqul Islam of Designtex Knitwear Ltd, took over as president.

Subsequently, the interim government appointed M Anwar Hossain, vice chairman of the Export Processing Bureau, as BGMEA administrator.

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