BFF polls uncertain, but process still on
Despite postponing its elections for indefinite period on March 27 as a result of coronavirus pandemic, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is still continuing the procedure of preparing voters' list by extending the deadline of submission of the delegates' names.
The game's local governing body on Monday extended the deadline of name submission for the 3rd time to April 30, with the initial deadline for submission passing on March 31, 19 days ahead of the initial schedule of April 20 polls.
The procedure of preparing voters' list has apparently raised question of BFF's intention among the stakeholders as there is still uncertainty over staging the elections in forseeable future because of the deteriorating situation of the coronavirus.
The BFF office bearers have themselves avoided sitting together at the executive meeting on March 27 prior to making your choice of elections postponement after taking opinions online. However, the meeting kept the procedure of preparing voters' list on by extending the deadline of names' submission at the same time all offices in the united states, except for the emergency services, are closed.
Up to now the BFF secretariat has received 70 percent names out of its 141 voting delegates and only 50 percent of these names have already been sent through hard documents, which are mandatory to get listed in the voters' list.
"We've not selected the name of our representative yet as we could not hold our executive meeting following shutdown. We will send it after holding the meeting but we don't know whether all members will be present," Faridpur DFA president Moslem Uddin told The Daily Star yesterday.
Wari Club's general secretary Shamsul Alam Anu also urged to avoid all activities about the elections for indefinite period.
"Preparing voters' list is part of elections which have been postponed. So we hardly understand why the BFF continues to be asking us to send names of councillors," said Anu.
"We cannot contain the executive committee meeting to choose councillors in that vulnerable period of the united states as the government's directive is in order to avoid gatherings/meetings. We, therefore, request you to cancel today's submission date of councillors' names and reschedule the same with the declaration of new date of AGM and EC elections after improvement of the coronavirus situation," Anu wrote to BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag, who's believed to took those appeals into consideration.
The game's local governing body has also formed a three-member committee featuring senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy, members Harun Ur Rashind and Abdur Rahim who will look into the matter of nomination of the delegates.
"This committee is not approved by the BFF executive committee and the persons, who were given the duty to mitigate the problem, are part of elections because they are likely to contest in the polls. So I'm doubtful whether this committee can deliver the proper decision," Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi, among the vice-presidents of BFF, told The Daily Star a couple of days earlier. He suggested that the BFF should form a committee with independent people just like the BFF disciplinary committee.
"Based on the BFF constitution under article 32, no executive person in BFF could be a judge of any judiciary committee. The committee that Kazi Salahuddin formed to mitigate the situation of delegates is also a judiciary committee, that is a clear violation of constitution and BFF cannot do this," said a member seeking anonymity.
