Voting was underway on Saturday at Dhaka and Chattogram centres in the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Board of Directors election for 2025-27 tenure.
This is the first major trade body election in the country since the political changeover in August 2024 and the subsequent dissolution of the previous BGMEA committee.
The main contest in this crucial election is between the Sammilito Parishad and Forum Panels.
Mahmud Hasan Khan, managing director of Rising Fashions and former vice-president of the BGMEA, is leading the Forum Panel.
Meanwhile, Md Abul Kalam, managing director of Chaiti Group and a former BGMEA director from a decade ago, is heading the Sammilito Parishad panel.
This year鈥檚 election has witnessed a massive mismanagement due to space issues, as the election is taking place at Radisson Blu Dhaka. The journalists鈥� entry was restricted, which never happened earlier.
Moreover, there was no logistics support for the voters, visitors and journalists.
Both leaders have expressed satisfaction with the voting process and voter turnout, and each remains optimistic about securing victory.
As of 02:00pm, 749 votes had been cast in Dhaka centre, which was 48 per cent of total 1,561 votes.
In Chattogram centre, 193 votes had been cast, which was 63 per cent of 303 votes.聽
The polling began at 8:00am on Saturday and will continue until 5:00pm without any break at the Radisson Blu Water Garden hotel in Dhaka and at the voting centre in Chattogram.
According to BGMEA, three panels 鈥� Forum, Sammilito Parishad, and Oikya Parishad 鈥� are contesting for the 35 director posts of the organisation.
The main competition lies between Forum and Sammilito Parishad, both of which have fielded full panels of candidates in Dhaka and Chattogram.
Oikya Parishad has fielded only six candidates.
The overall number of voters stands at 1,864, of whom 1,561 are in Dhaka and 303 in Chattogram.
