The Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) will hold its election on September 4. The date was confirmed during a recent meeting at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur which was attended by several current and former cricketers.
Another important development from the meeting was the announcement that CWAB now has a permanent office inside the stadium.
The upcoming election will be supervised by a three-member commission. It includes former national cricketers Habibul Bashar and Nasir Ahmed Nasu and will be led by Iftikhar Rahman Mithu. They will oversee the entire process to make sure it follows the rules laid out by CWAB.
Who Can Vote and What’s New
Selim Shahed, a member of CWAB’s ad-hoc committee, said the election process is ready to begin.
"We’ve held a CWAB meeting and decided that the election will be held on September 4. The meeting also discussed the entire process-from membership enrollment to nomination form collection and submission. All election tasks will begin soon," Selim said as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Players who have been registered with the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) since 1975 will be eligible for lifetime membership with voting rights. Current and former national and first-class cricketers who are permanent members will also have voting rights.
However, a CWAB member who is also an employee or director of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will not be allowed to vote.
"BCB directors or employees cannot vote. If any CWAB member later joins BCB, they will have to resign from one of the two roles," Selim explained.
This rule has been introduced to prevent any conflict of interest following past criticism when people held roles in both CWAB and BCB such as Naimur Rahman.
Mohammad Mithun Calls for Active Role from Cricketers in CWAB Leadership
Former Bangladesh batter Mohammad Mithun has urged current players to take part in CWAB matters.
"In the past, no current player was involved with CWAB. We used to trust the leadership, thinking they would work in our best interest. That hope kept us going for a long time - but eventually, we suffered due to that reliance. Now, players from all regions and divisions have come forward. We want to work directly, take responsibility ourselves. If cricket doesn't move forward, we - the players - must own that failure too."
Mithun added that the upcoming election is a good chance to choose leaders who truly represent players. He said:
"That's why current players have decided to get involved directly in CWAB this time. The election is open to everyone - anyone can contest. We will vote for whomever we believe is the right person to represent us."
There is talk that former Bangladesh cricketer Tamim Iqbal might run for CWAB president.
