Aminul Islam was re-elected as the Bangladesh Cricket Board president after the elections of the board of directors held at a city hotel in Dhaka on Monday.听
Faruque Ahmed, also a former board president, and Shakhawat Hossain were elected as vice-presidents.听
Aminul, Faruque, and Shakhawat were all elected unopposed, as there were no other candidates in the respective roles from the 25 elected directors on the same day. The new board held its first meeting on Monday and will continue today.听
After ousting the Awami League government in August last year, the maximum number of board directors of the BCB went into hiding. Now the governing body of the country鈥檚 cricket got a full-fledged board.听
鈥業 have taken this as a part of my journey. I have fallen in love with Bangladesh鈥檚 cricket development. I came for a short term; that was the plan all along,鈥� Aminul told reporters after being elected as the president.听
鈥楤ut when we started to do little things and saw success, then I didn鈥檛 think otherwise. I stayed with that aim, to serve more for my country,鈥� he added.听
Aminul also urged everyone to come forward to work together.听
鈥業 will urge everyone who is and isn鈥檛 on the board to work for Bangladesh cricket and help us. There might be controversy in every sector, in every place, and in every country. But we were within the constitution,鈥� he said.听
鈥楨ven today, I have said that those who couldn鈥檛 come [to the board] will be approached to help us. Bangladesh is for all. The election is just a little process. We will try to approach everyone and work together to move Bangladesh cricket ahead,鈥� he added.听
Aminul, who played 13 Tests and 39 ODIs for Bangladesh, was announced as the 20th board president at around 8:15pm by the chief election commissioner, Mohammad Hossain.听
Aminul was first elected in May after the previous president, Faruque, was removed, followed by a no-confidence motion from eight out of nine BCB directors, who reportedly struggled to work under his leadership.
However, Faruque will now act as one of the deputies on Aminul鈥檚 board. Meanwhile, Shakhwat was elected a director unopposed from Barishal.听
Faruque said that it wouldn鈥檛 be any problem for them to work with one another.听
鈥楢s the goal is the same, we should overcome the little goals to move the country鈥檚 cricket towards a bigger one,鈥� he said.
Monday鈥檚 voting ended a controversial election that saw boycotts and allegations of intervention from the board and the ministry of youth and sports.听
Several candidates, mostly from Category Two, including former national team captain Tamim Iqbal, withdrew their nominations, alleging that this was a 鈥榝ixed election鈥�. 听
Even on Monday, soon after signing on the result sheet, Debabarata Paul, one of the two candidates of Category Three, claimed that the election was 鈥榟ighly influenced鈥� without revealing any further details.听
However, Aminul and the election commission denied those claims.
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