The Housing Traders Oikya Parishad led by Wahiduzzaman and Liaquat Ali Bhuiyan won the biennial election of the board of directors of the Real Estate and Housing Association Bangladesh (REHAB) for 2024-26.

The panel won 25 out of the 29 director posts in Dhaka and Chattogram.

Some 409 votes were cast out of 476 in the election which continued from 10 am to 4 pm at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh in the city's Farmgate area today.

For different reasons, 38 of the votes were cancelled in Dhaka and one in Chattogram.

Wahiduzzaman, managing director of Japan Garden City and a member of the Housing Traders Oikya Parishad, secured the highest 248 votes.

Abdul Latif, chairman of Basic Builders Limited, secured the second highest 241 votes while Mohammad Akhter Biswas of Akhter Properties Limited got 226 votes and Liakat Ali Bhuiyan, managing director of Brick Works Ltd, 220 votes.

This is the first formal election of REHAB since 2007 as an executive committee decided through mutual understanding among members has been running the association for the past six terms.

The election was held peacefully and it was free and fair, Liakat Ali Bhuiyan said.

"We have given our word to reform the association and we will do what we committed," he said.

"We will also work to solve the problems in business and trade, including removing the complications of the Detailed Area Plan (DAP)."