Preparations underway for FBCCI polls on July 31

Preparations are underway by a board which would hold an election in Dhaka on July 31 to form the top management of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) for the 2023-25 term. 

Last night the board was scheduled to make public a preliminary list of candidates who submitted documents validating their candidature.

The names had not been published as of filing of this report at around 7:30pm yesterday.

The documents have already been collected and the board sat in a meeting last night to scrutinise those, said A Matin Chowdhury, chairman of the board.

The names might be published after 10:00pm as it will take a bit of time, he told The Daily Star over the phone.

There are mainly three kinds of documents, including a Bangladesh Bank certification that the candidate is not a bank defaulter and a National Board of Revenue (NBR) certification that the candidate is not a tax defaulter.

The last is a police clearance based on the candidate's permanent address.

It confirms that the candidate has not been convicted in any criminal or corruption case or case involving moral turpitude as of the date of submission of nomination papers for the post of director, according to an election notice.

Anyone disqualified can appeal with the board providing proper documents, said Shamsul Alam, one of the election board members.

The final list of candidates after appeals will be published on July 15 and the last date for withdrawals is July 19. The election will take place at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, he said.

As per the FBCCI charter, 46 directors (23 from association group and 23 from chamber group) will be elected while 34 (17 from chamber and 17 from association group) nominated.

These 80 directors will then elect one president, one senior vice-president and six vice-presidents.

There are 2,500 voters this year, said Chowdhury.