BFF set for lukewarm elections

Both president aspirants of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) elections were in relaxed mood on the eve of today's elections, unlike the previous polls of the country's second-most affluent sports body.

When contacted yesterday, two-time former BFF vice-president Tabith Awal was busy watching Bangladesh's match of AFC U-17 Asian Cup Qualifiers against Macau while footballer-turned-banker AFM Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury was in his hotel room in the capital, instead of physically making contact with delegates after having arrived in the capital from Dinajpur on Thursday.

The mood of the two president-aspirants is virtually a reflection of lack of enthusiasm regarding the elections, unlike the four previous elections which experienced huge excitement and competition among the candidates.

There always used to be two separate panels contesting in the last four polls with different panels holding number of meetings with delegates, coaches and former players. There used to be revelation of manifestos for attracting voters but this time around, there was hardly any such initiative to draw voters, which could be attributed to a lack of panel.

With long-severing incumbent president Kazi Salahuddin's announcement of not competing in the polls a month ago, it became certain that the game's local governing body would get a new president with four individuals buying nominations papers for the top position. Two of them later withdrew their candidature, leaving the fight between experienced campaigner Tabith and unheralded Chowdhury.

Even though Tabith has arranged three meetings with former players, organisers, coaches and delegates, Chowdhury has chosen to interact with the delegates through text messages.

"On Thursday, I arranged a get-together for the delegates and I did not ask anyone to cast their votes for me because I wanted everyone to spend a joyous time with each other and deepen the relation with each other," Tabith told the Daily Star yesterday.

Chowdhury said, "I informed the delegates about my desire and ambition of contesting in the BFF president's post through SMS. Everyone inspired and supported me. Let's see what happens tomorrow."

Incumbent vice-president Imrul Hasan has already been elected unopposed in the senior vice-president's post following withdrawal of candidature by Tarafder Ruhul Amin.

Some competition, however, is expected in the four vice-president posts to be contested by four new faces -- K-sports owner Fahad Karim, Wahid Uddin Chowdhury Happy, elder brother of BNP leader Shahid Uddin Anny, Radiant Pharmaceuticals owner Nasser Shahrear Zahedee, former footballers Shafiqul Islam Manik and Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir and Brothers Union's member secretary Sabbir Ahmed Aref.

While many top officials of different sports clubs contest in the Bangladesh Cricket Board elections, hardly any top club official except for Imrul Hasan has showed interest in contesting the BFF polls, paving way for less-familiar names to into the elections.