BFF polls uncertain, but process still on

Despite postponing its elections for indefinite period on March 27 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is still continuing the process 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 third time to April 30, with the initial deadline for submission passing on March 31, 19 days prior to the original schedule of April 20 polls.

The process 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 near future due to the deteriorating situation of the coronavirus.

The BFF office bearers have themselves avoided sitting together at the executive meeting on March 27 before making the decision of elections postponement after taking opinions online. However, the meeting kept the process of preparing voters' list on by extending the deadline of names' submission at a time all offices in the country, except for the emergency services, are closed.

So far the BFF secretariat has received 70 percent names out of its 141 voting delegates and only 50 percent of those names have been sent through hard documents, which are mandatory to get listed in the voters' list.  

"We have not selected the name of our representative yet as we could not hold our executive meeting following the 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 stop all activities regarding the elections for indefinite period.

"Preparing voters' list is part of elections which have been postponed. So we don't understand why the BFF is still asking us to send names of councillors," said Anu.

"We are unable to hold the executive committee meeting to select councillors in such a vulnerable period of the country as the government's directive is to avoid gatherings/meetings. We, therefore, request you to cancel the present 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 is believed to have taken 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 has not been approved by the BFF executive committee and the persons, who were given the responsibility to mitigate the problem, are part of elections as they are expected to contest in the polls. So I'm doubtful whether this committee can deliver the right decision," Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi, one of the vice-presidents of BFF, told The Daily Star a few days earlier. He suggested that the BFF should form a committee with independent people like the BFF disciplinary committee.

"According to the BFF constitution under article 32, no executive member of BFF can be a judge of any judiciary committee. The committee that Kazi Salahuddin formed to mitigate the problem of delegates is also a judiciary committee, which is a clear violation of constitution and BFF cannot do that," said a member seeking anonymity.