Online Desk: Sammilito Parishad won a landslide victory in the biennial election of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) for the 2024-2026 term.

With this comprehensive win, SM Mannan Kochi is set to be the next president of the BGMEA as his panel won a thumping victory in the trade body’s election held yesterday simultaneously in Dhaka and Chattogram.

Kochi’s Sammilito Parishad bagged all the posts of directors in the election. Of the 35 posts of directors, 26 are in Dhaka and nine in Chattogram region.

Kochi, chairman of Seha Design (BD) Ltd, is also the general Secretary of the ruling Awami League’s Dhaka North City unit.

Currently, he is holding the post of senior vice president in the BGMEA. In the election, his rival panel — Forum – led by Faisal Samad could not win a single director’s post.

The BGMEA election took place yesterday to elect the new executive committee for the 2024-26 tenure, at BGMEA Dhaka and Chattogram offices.

Some 2,235 voters casted their votes in both the polling centers in Dhaka and Chattogram out of the total voters of 2,494. Out of those, some 1,848 out of 2,032 voters exercised their franchise at the Dhaka centre while at the Chattogram polling centre, some 387 out of 462 votes were casted.

Earlier yesterday, Jahangir Alamin, chairman of the BGMEA election board for the 2024-26 term, said the election was peaceful.

As per BGMEA polls rule, the general voters elect 35 directors first and then, the elected directors nominate the president and vice presidents.

Two panels — Sammilito Parishad and Forum – contested in the elections. The tenure of the current board, which took charge in April 2021, expires this March.

Its term was extended for a total of one year in two phases, to deal with the fallouts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and other compounding issues.

On 4 December last year, the BGMEA board of directors formed a three-member election board headed by Jahangir Alamin, former president of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA).

It also formed a three-member election appellate board, headed by Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) President Kamran T Rahman.

The voters in Dhaka region casted their ballots in booths installed at BGMEA Uttara office, while the voters in Chattogram region casted votes at the trade body’s regional office in the port city.