Ad-hoc committee asks NSC for polls
After having worked for nearly one year, the ad-hoc committee of the Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) has recently asked the National Sports Council (NSC) to hold its polls immediately in order to elect an executive committee.
The NSC, the country's sports regulatory body, had formed a 31-member ad-hoc committee in January last year after dissolving the previous elected committee -- which had overstayed for nearly seven months following the expiration of its tenure in July 2017 as the polls, scheduled for August that year, were suspended by the NSC citing the worsening flood situation across the country.
"Yes, we wrote to the NSC in late December to hold the BHF elections immediately as we want to bring some changes to the BHF constitution [in order] to run activities smoothly. Besides, we can't get the services of all the members of the ad-hoc committee, so we need an elected committee," said ad-hoc committee general secretary Abdus Sadeque yesterday.
Explaining the reason behind pursuing constitutional changes, Sadeque said: "Most of the clubs want to play the Premier Division Hockey League once every three years. Top clubs like Usha KC have been relegated to the lower league while Dhaka Mariner Youngs Club don't want to play. In this case, if the executive committee would have the power to include the new teams in top-flight hockey, then we could have invited some new teams to fill the void."
Usha were relegated after refusing to take part in the last Premier Hockey League while the ad-hoc committee suspended a couple of Mariner Youngs Club and Mohammedan officials following a disputed league match between Mariners and Mohammedan.
Abdus Sadeque, the former national hockey player, expressed his desire to contest the post of general secretary with the greater interest of hockey in mind, although he wants to form a non-partisan committee with the representation of all quarters.
Ad-hoc committee vice president and Usha general secretary Abdur Rashid Shikdar welcomed the initiative to hold the elections as he was one of the candidates for general secretary during the suspended polls.
"I welcome the initiative of holding the elections again," Shikdar said. "I can't say at the moment whether I am going to compete for the general secretary post again but I will consider it if the councillors want me again."
NSC secretary Masud Karim said that they would start the process of forming the election commission after receiving instructions from new NSC chairman and state minister for youth and sports Zahid Ahsan Russel.
“We will convey the matter to the new chairman and follow the instructions he gives us. We will also bring other things to his notice. It is our routine work to hold the election of the national sports federations," said Karim.