Bangladesh Govt Probe Exposes Vote-Rigging in 2025 Cricket Board Elections

The committee reported a lack of cooperation from BCB's top officials on multiple occasions. Former BCB president Aminul Islam said in a recent interview that he did not participate in a face-to-face meeting with the panel, opting instead to submit a written response.

Despite this, the committee found that both BCB officials and individuals within the sports ministry were involved in irregularities during the election process.

Mohammed Aminul Ahesan, the NSC sports director, read out the government's report at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, "The election process was not free, fair or transparent. Voters were intimidated, and procedural irregularities were rampant."

Ahesan stated that the government had sufficient grounds to dissolve the Aminul-led BCB board. Concluding his press briefing, he announced the 11 members of a new ad hoc committee that will oversee the BCB for the next three months. Tamim Iqbal, the former Bangladesh captain, who had accused Aminul of abusing his authority as BCB president just four weeks before last year's election, has been appointed as the new BCB president.

"On March 10, 2026, Mr Shariful Alam and other former councillors made a complaint about the district and division sports associations. The subject of the complaint was the deadline for submitting councillors' names from this category. The concerned authorities were sent letters on September 1 and 2 that the submission deadline would be September 17. The BCB extended this deadline to September 19 and then to September 22. The committee felt that this deadline was extended without proper reason and for ulterior motives, to replace the previously nominated councillors with preferred individuals and create opportunities for them to be elected as directors," Ahesan said.

The committee found that Aminul and Nazmul Abedeen Fahim used undue influence to secure their councillorships for the 2025 BCB elections and to gain positions in Dhaka's ad hoc committees, actions Ahesan described as a serious abuse of power.

"Based on the statements of the other directors interviewed, the committee has inferred that Mr Aminul Islam Bulbul was not duly authorised to nominate 10 councillors from among the former cricketers," the statement stated.

"Also, as per Article 9.3.3 of the BCB Constitution, the President does not have the power to unilaterally nominate 10 former cricketers as councillors. Therefore, Mr Aminul Islam Bulbul, as the BCB President, acted beyond his authority by unilaterally nominating 10 former cricketers as councillors. This is a clear abuse of power and a violation of the BCB constitution. The committee found that Mr Aminul Islam Bulbul's unilateral nomination of 10 former cricketers had a significant impact on the election process, as he received benefits from those councillors and potentially influenced the election outcome," the report further added.

According to the report, Aminul and officials from the NSC were found to have manipulated the e-voting process, a conclusion supported by voter interviews that described the system as "pre-planned."

"The committee found that e-voting was conducted from a specific location and the confidentiality of the vote was not maintained, which is against basic democratic principles and the BCB constitution," the report stated. "Again, most of these voters were present at the polling station on the day of physical voting of e-voters. Although there was an opportunity to vote directly, e-voting was conducted by gathering in one place at the Sheraton Hotel in the capital on the night of the 5th (October 5), and the process seemed to the committee to be vote rigging."

- ANI