Mohammad Aminul Ahesan, the National Sports Council (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,” he said.
“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”
Mohammad Aminul Ahesan
Tamim’s allegation was just one of the things the investigating committee managed to confirm, finding the deadline extension for the submission of councillors’ name to have “ulterior motives”.
“On March 10, 2026, Mr Shariful Alam and other former councillors made the complaint about the districts and division sports associations. The subject of the complaint was the deadline for submitting councillors’ names from this category. The concerned authority 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 September 22,” Ahesan read out. “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.”
The committee found BCB president Aminul and then director Nazmul Abedeen Fahim to have secured their councillorships for the elections through influence. It also stated that the duo was included in the Dhaka division and district ad-hoc committees on September 8 last year because of the influence of sports ministry officials. Ahesan called it “a serious abuse of power”.
The committee also found evidence of Aminul unilaterally selecting ten former cricketers as councillors to vote in category 3 of the BCB elections. No audio or video recordings of the alleged board meeting where Aminul said the BCB directors allowed him to select the ten voters could be found.
“Based on the statements of the other directors interviewed, the committee has inferred that Mr Aminul Islam Bulbul was not duly authorised to nominate ten councillors from among the former cricketers,” the report said. “Also, as per Article 9.3.3 of the BCB constitution, the president does not have the power to unilaterally nominate ten former cricketers as councillors. Therefore, Mr Aminul Islam Bulbul, as the BCB president, acted beyond his authority. 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 ten former cricketers had a significant impact on the election process, as he received benefits from those councillors and potentially influenced the election outcome.”
According to the report, Aminul and NSC officials were also deemed to have rigged the e-voting process. The conclusion was reached after interviews with voters who called the e-voting system “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 said. “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 (October 5) and the process seemed to the committee to be vote rigging.”
The committee also found former Bangladesh captain Faruque Ahmed, who was one of BCB’s vice-presidents at the time, to have received undue advantage when he submitted his nomination after the deadline of September 22.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
