Much-Anticipated BFF Polls This Afternoon

The much-anticipated election and congress of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), also known as the BFF Elective Congress 2020, will take place on Saturday at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.

Voting will begin at 02:00 p.m. after a two-hour congress, which will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 01:00 p.m.

A total of 139 members of the federation's affiliated associations will exercise their right to form a 21-member BFF Executive Committee, including the President, the Senior Vice-President, four Vice-Presidents and 15 members.

The 3-member Election Commission, led by Mezbah Uddin Ahmed, will administer the elections. Two other BFF EC members are Mahfuzur Rahman Siddique and Motahar Uddin Saju.

Chief Election Commissioner said that they expect the voters would be able to cast votes peacefully.

“We're expecting the voters will be able to cast their votes peacefully under a healthy environment. We’ve taken all possible health measures. FIFA and AFC will not send any observers to monitor elections due to travel restrictions,” he told the reporters on Friday.

The last BFF election was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel on 30 April 2016. A total of 134 delegates from clubs, districts, divisions and educational institutions voted for four years to form the Kazi Salahuddin-led BFF governing body.

Elections were supposed to take place on 20 April this year, but the federation postponed the elections due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governing body of world football FIFA had also permitted BFF to postpone the election until the situation became normal.

The schedule was announced by the BFF EC on 3 September. According to the new timetable, a total of 49 nomination papers — three for the president, two for the senior vice-president, eight for the vice-president and 36 for the members of the executive committee — were sold between 5 and 7 September in three days of appointment.

Aspiring candidates for president, senior vice president and vice president and representatives purchased nomination papers by paying Tk 1 lakh, Tk 75.000, Tk 50.000 and Tk 25.000 respectively. Candidates submitted nomination papers on 8 September, while the BFF Election Commission reviewed all nomination papers on 11 September.

Two candidates namely Saidur Rahman Manik and Zakir Hossain Babul withdrew their candidacy on the last date of candidate withdrawal on September 12. BFF incumbent vice-president Badal Roy, who was expected to compete against Kazi Salahuddin, also withdrew his presidential candidacy on the same day. But BFF EC rejected it as the former football star submitted his application after the deadline of withdrawal candidacy at 05:00pm. However, BFF EC published the final list of candidates including Badal Roy and provided ballot numbers on September 13.

This year, two panels and two independent candidates are taking part in the polls.

Three-time BFF President Kazi Md Salauddin is heading a 21-member electoral panel called Sammilita Parishad. The panel produced one candidate for President, one for Senior Vice-President, four for Vice-Presidents, and 15 for Executive Members. These are the names of the candidates:

President: Kazi Salahuddin; Senior vice president: Abdus Salam Murshedy; Vice-Presidents: Imrul Hassan, Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Ataur Rahman Manik and Amirul Islam Babu; Members: Harunur Rashid, Shawkat Ali Khan Jahangir, Mahfuza Akter Kiron, Styajit Das Rupu, Elias Hossain, Bijan Barua, Iqbal Hossain, Amit Khan Shuvro, Mahiuddin Ahmed Salim, Zakir Hossain Chowdhury, Sayed Reazul Karim, Kamrul Hasan Hilton, Imteaz Hamid Sabuj, Asaduzzaman Mithu and Nurul Islam.

Sammilita Parishad unveiled its election manifesto on September 20. The four-page manifesto, featured a total of 36 pledges on the national team, domestic football, women’s football, development project and technical issues.

After announcing the manifesto, Kazi Salauddin said, "In my last term, I have fulfilled 70 to 75% of the pledges made in the last election manifesto. I want to go on with that. We've been writing this manifesto for three months. It's possible to keep all of these promises through my panel. If we are elected, we will keep our word.

Bashundhara Kings President and Vice-President Imrul Hassan also claimed that they could keep all the promises if all the members of the committee were to play their positions sincerely.

“The elected executive committee will get four years. It is a long time. I believe if we all played our roles sincerely, we will be able to keep most of our pledges. We should work together for the development of football. I believe that everyone will support me,” he added.

Samannoy Parishad, a 19-member electoral panel jointly nominated by the Bangladesh District and Divisional Football Association (BDDFA) and the Bangladesh Football Club Association (BCA), will compete against Sammilita Parishad.

Samannoy Parishad gave no candidate for the president post. Former football star Sheikh Mohammad Aslam will compete for senior vice-president post while Additional IGP Sheikh Mohammad Maruf Hasan, Mohiuddin Mohi and SM Abdullah Al Fuyad for vice-presidents posts from the panel. The panel gave 15 candidates for members posts namely ANM Aminul Haque Mamun, Abdul Wadud Pintu, Tipu Sultan, Manjurul Ahsan, Mohidur Rahman Miraz, Mizanur Rahman, Sabbir Hossain, Amer Khan, Arif Hossain Moon, Imteaz Sultan Jony, Fazlur Rahman Babul, Saiful Islam, Hasanuzzaman Khan, Shakil Ahmed Chowdhury and Syed Mostaq Ali Mukul.

Samannoy Paris revealed on 1 October its three-page manifesto containing 24 pledges. The panel promised to draw up a long-term 12-year football programme.

Former national footballer Shafiqul Islam Manik, who is taking part as an independent presidential candidate in the BFF polls, unveiled his four-page manifesto, featuring 21 pledges on September 29. Manik promised to work on the domestic competitions, grassroots football, salary structure and health insurance for national footballers, FIFA rankings, annual football calendar coaches and referees education.

In addition, BFF Vice-President Tabith Awal will compete as an independent candidate for Vice-President while Shafiul Islam Manik, Md Rafiq, Md Rayhan Kabir and Saifur Rahman Moni will compete as independent candidates for membership.