Members of the garment entrepreneurs' body BGMEA have started voting to elect their new leadership.
Started at the BGMEA Bhaban in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar at 8:00am on Saturday, it will continue until 4:00pm.
Fewer voters were present at the outset of the voting due to rains coupled with gusty winds early in the morning.
Two centres - one in Dhaka and another in Chattogram - have been set up for the BGMEA members to cast their vote in the election.
An election commissioner, Nihad Kabir told reporters: "Balloting is going on in a very good environment here, so is in Chattogram."
"After the voting," he said, "it may take a few hours to count the votes of the two centres and announce the results."
Swadhinata Parishad leader Zahangir Alam, managing director of Design and Source Ltd, alleged, "Two of his agents have not come in as they were given threats."
"We wanted to make two of our candidates agents, but the [Election] Commission did not allow it."
Since the BGMEA’s inception, two panels - the Sammilita Parishad and the Forum - have been contesting each other in the election.
But in the last few years, the BGMEA leadership have been made through a compromised deal between the two panels, reducing the election to selection.
But the emergence of Swadhinata Parishad in January 2018 forced the trade body to go to polls this year. They, however, failed to field their candidates to compete each BGMEA post.
Though there were booths and banners of the Sammilita Parishad-Forum panel on the ground floor of the BGMEA builing, there were no agents from the Swadhinata Parishad there, local media reports say.
In this election, the Sammilita Parishad-Forum panel has jointly thrown a panel, with Mohammadi Group Managing Director Rubana Huq, in the lead.
Also the wife of late Dhaka North mayor Annisul Huq, Rubana told reporters: "The election is happening in a very good environment. Whatever the result is, we will accept it."
After Sammilita Parishad’s Siddiqur Rahman was made president in the last elections in 2015, the Forum picked Rubana as its candidate this time.
A total of 1955 voters - 1597 from Dhaka and 358 from Chattogram – are expected to excercise their rights in the election. They will elect 35 directors from 44 candidates.
