Tamim withdraws from BCB elections: 'I cannot be a part of this'

Tamim Iqbal is one of 16 candidates to withdraw from participating in the BCB elections. The board's election commission announced on Wednesday that following the withdrawals, there will be 27 candidates who will contest for the 17 remaining director posts.

The BCB elections is for the board of directors, 23 of whom are chosen by vote while two will be government representatives. These 25 directors elect a board president. With Tamim out of the race, the path for Aminul Islam, the incumbent BCB president, is clear to continue in the role after October 6.

Already, six directors have automatically become board directors due to no contest in their sub-categories. These include Barishal (Shakhawat Hossain), Sylhet (Rahat Shams), Chattogram (Ahsan Iqbal Chowdhury and Asif Akbar) and Khulna (Abdur Razzak and Julfikar Ali Khan).

Three contestants each remain in the Dhaka, Rangpur and Rajshahi regions, to determine who becomes board directors. There will also be a contest for the third category, which includes educational institutes and former cricketers, among others. One director between former captain Khaled Mashud and Debabrata Paul, representing Jahangirnagar University, will be elected. Mashud is one of ten former cricketers who were selected by the BCB to vote in this category.

Tamim is the representative of Old DOHS which is among the 76 clubs who participate in the Category 2 elections. After submitting his withdrawal papers on Wednesday, Tamim repeated his accusations from the September 21 press conference, with allegations of interference in the way the election is being conducted.

"At least 14 or 15 of us have withdrawn our nominations today," Tamim said on Wednesday. "The reason for this withdrawal is very clear. From the very beginning, I have been saying one thing, and you are all clear about it now--about which direction this election is going or how it is being conducted. Whatever seems right at any moment, whatever they want to do, is being done. This is not really an election. This is not an election, and this doesn't suit cricket in any way.

"A lot has been said at different times, but at the end of the day, I feel that we cannot be a part of this. I always say one thing: cricket, Bangladesh cricket does not deserve this, and the cricket fans of Bangladesh do not deserve this either."

Tamim was left frustrated after the deadlines for the submission of nomination papers were extended a number of times, with BCB president Aminul Islam himself signing one of the extension letters, although it is the norm for the BCB's chief executive officer to send such letters to the board's election commission.

"(Match) fixing is often talked about quite loudly, but it is the election fixing that needs to be stopped first. I think it is crystal clear to everyone who was involved, at what time, what kind of involvement they had, what kind of interference occurred, and how the rules were changed at will for convenience. I will end my speech by saying that this election has become a black mark for the Bangladesh Cricket Board."