Mahbubul Alam, new FBCCI president

Mahbubul Alam, who took part in the election of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) as a leader of the Sammilito Oikko Parishad, has been elected as the president of the FBCCI for 2023-25 tenure.

Alam has replaced the incumbent FBCCI president, Md Jashim Uddin.

In a meeting held at the FBCCI office in Dhaka today, some 78 elected and nominated directors of the federation chose Alam as FBCCI chief, who represented Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) at the election.

They also elected Md Amin Helaly as senior vice president and Khairul Huda Chopol, Mohammad Anwar Sadat Sarker, Joshoda Jibon Deb Nath, Shomi Kaiser, Rashadul Hossain Chowdhury (Ronni) and Md Munir Hossain as vice presidents.

A Matin Chowdhury, chairman of the election board of the FBCCI Election for 2023-25, announced the new leadership at the meeting.

This year, the election was held only in the association group of the FBCCI to elect 23 directors as 23 directors for chamber group were elected unopposed earlier.

In the association group, 49 candidates contested for 23 posts of directors. Of the 49 candidates, 23 were from each of two panels and three were independent candidates.

Of the total 80 posts of the directors at the FBCCI election, 17 from the chamber group and 17 from the association group were nominated and the rest 46 were elected, with 23 each coming from the chamber and association groups.

This year, 16 directors from the chamber group and the same number of directors from the association group have been nominated after two directors from each group were disqualified for a number of reasons.

The election was held on July 31 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.

Some 89.35 percent or 1,746 out of the 1,954 voters cast their votes in the polls.

Mir Nizam Uddin Ahmed, representative of Bangladesh Electrical Association, contested under the Sammilito Baboshayee Parishad panel in the association group. His panel won 15 posts of directors in the association group and Alam's panel won 8 in this group.

As per the rules of the apex trade body of Bangladesh, the chamber group and the association group get the chance to elect their nominee as the FBCCI president in every alternative term.