Sports desk:

Voting in the much-hyped election of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has stated on Saturday afternoon at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.

The polling started at 2:00pm and will continue till 6:00pm without any break.

Earlier, a two-hour congress was held from 11:00am to 01:00pm at the same venue.

A total of 139 councillors from the federation’s affiliated associations will exercise their franchise to form the 21-member BFF executive committee including president, senior vice-president, four vice presidents and fifteen members.

The 3-member election commission, headed by Mezbah Uddin Ahmed, is conducting the polls. Other two members of BFF EC are Mahfuzur Rahman Siddique and Motahar Uddin Saju.

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

This year, the election was expected to be held on April 20, but the federation postponed the polls due to the pandemic COVID-19 outbreak.

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

The BFF EC announced the schedule on September 3. According to the fresh schedule, a total of 49 nomination papers — three for president, two for senior vice-president, eight for vice-presidents and 36 for executive committee members — were sold in three days of nomination distribution from September 5 to 7.

Aspiring candidates for the president, senior vice president and vice president and members bought nomination papers by paying Tk 1 lakh, Tk 75,000 , Tk 50,000 thousand and Tk 25,000 respectively. Candidates submitted nomination papers on September 8 while BFF Election Commission scrutinised all submitted nomination papers on September 11.

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 leading a 21-member electoral panel named Sammilita Parishad. The panel gave one candidate for president post, one for senior vice president post, four for vice-presidents posts, and 15 for executive members posts. Here 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 tenure, I’ve fulfilled 70 to 75 percent of pledges made in the last election manifesto. I want to continue with that. We have researched for three months before making this manifesto. It is possible to keep all of these pledges by my panel. If we get elected, we will keep our word.”

Bashundhara Kings President and vice-president candidate Imrul Hassan also believed that they could keep all the pledges if all committee members played their roles 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.

The 19-member electoral panel Samannoy Parishad, jointly nominated by Bangladesh District and Divisional Football Association (BDDFA) and 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 Parishad announced its three-page manifesto featuring 24 pledges on October 1. The panel pledged to make a long term plan of 12-year for football.

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.

Besides, BFF incumbent vice-president Tabith Awal will compete as independent candidate for vice-president posts while Shafiul Islam Manik, Md Rafiq, Md Rayhan Kabir and Saifur Rahman Moni will compete as independent candidates for member posts.