Dhaka: Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) today announced the completion of voting to elect a new executive committee for the upcoming two years.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, BGMEA officials confirmed that the voting process commenced at 8 AM and concluded at 5 PM, without any interruptions. The election saw a voter turnout of 88.21 percent in Dhaka and 83.83 percent in Chattogram. The voting was held at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka and the Radisson Blu Bay View Hotel in Chattogram, with 1,561 and 303 BGMEA members casting their votes, respectively.
“The vote counting is underway. It will take some time to announce the result,” a BGMEA official familiar with the process stated. The election featured two panels, the Forum Panel and Sammilito Parishad Panel, led by Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu and M Abul Kalam, contesting for the 2025-2027 tenure.
The BGMEA election is crucial as it elects 35 directors who subsequently nominate the president, vice-presidents, and other office bearers. In the last election held on March 9 of the previous year, the Sammilito Parishad panel secured all 35 director posts, with SM Mannan Kochi becoming the president. However, Kochi resigned following the fall of the Hasina-led government in a student-led mass uprising in August last year. Consequently, the then senior vice-president, Khandoker Rafiqul Islam of Designtex Knitwear Ltd, assumed the presidency.
Following these developments, the interim government appointed M Anwar Hossain, vice-chairman of the Export Processing Bureau (EPB), as the BGMEA administrator.