The apex apparel trade body BGMEA's move to introduce members' biometric identity card for voting in the upcoming elections is facing a setback as a section of members have opposed the decision, sources said.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has already backtracked on its previous decision of not including in the voter list the members who don't have exports, they added.
According to BGMEA election board schedule, the biennial election of the trade body for the term of 2021-23 will be held on April 4.
The board in its schedule stipulated a provision of attesting the voter nomination letter and Taxpayer's Identification Number by lien banks so that any member, who did not engage in export activities, could not be a voter for the elections.
When asked, a member of the BGMEA current board said a group of its members were opposing the decision of introducing the biometric ID card for voting.
"We are not against the move to introduce the biometric database for members but against making it mandatory in the upcoming elections," he said.
Echoing the board member, Faruque Hassan, managing director of Giant Group, said biometric ID card could be introduced for the term of 2023-25.
It would not be possible for the upcoming elections, he said.
The database work just began a week back and all members will not be able to include themselves in the database as some of them are staying abroad.
Besides, the schedule announced by the BGMEA election board did not have any such provision, the panel leader of Sammilito Parishad said.
Sammilita Parishad and Forum, another BGMEA panel, traditionally compete for the BGMEA leadership, though Sammilita Parishad and Forum jointly formed Sammilita Forum after the election held in 2013.
The election is usually held after every two years. However, it was not held in 2015, since both Sammilita Parishad and Forum panels jointly decided to elect the board.
Later on September 22, 2015, Md Siddiqur Rahman became the BGMEA president and served as head of the apparel apex trade body for three years and seven months after getting extension three times from the government.
There was consensus between the two panels to reverse leaderships for two terms.
In 2018, another platform, Swadhinata Parishad, was formed.
In April 2019, Rubana Huq, managing director of Mohammadi Group, was elected president from Forum to lead the association for the 2019-2021 terms.
BGMEA, consisting of around 4500 members, is being run by a 35-member board of directors, including seven vice-presidents.
