Govt cancels BASIS polls, extends tenure of existing body

The government today repealed the election of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), which was scheduled to be held on March 31, and extended the tenure of the existing executive committee for next six months.

The commerce ministry in a letter informed that it has repealed the executive council election of BASIS for 2018-2020 tenure, mentioning some procedural mistakes of the schedule and asked the software and information services trade body to go for the new schedule, said Syed Almas Kabir, president of the association.

“After receiving the order, we have called an emergency executive committee meeting and next course action will be taken after the meeting,” said Kabir, who is also an aspirant of the scheduled election and leading a panel comprised of nine candidates.

BASIS will talk to its lawyer and will try to find out a process to continue with the election, Kabir also added.

BASIS, the highest trade body of digital business in the country, had amended its continuation in an extraordinary general meeting last year but commerce ministry’s trade organisation wing said that it has not been informed properly in this regard, according to the letter signed by Sayeda Nahida Habib, a deputy secretary of the ministry.

A director of the BASIS said some eleven members of the association has applied before the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms and asked them to cancel the election.

RJSC then wrote about it to the trade organisation wing and they decided to repeal the election.

Earlier, BASIS declared election date twice last year, on July 8 and then on December 28, but they failed to organise it.

This time, 31 candidates submitted their nominations against nine posts and of it, five were contesting independently and rest 26 decided to contest in three panels.