Barkat Ullah Bulu poised to become Mohammedan club president

Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Barkat Ullah Bulu is set to become the next president of Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited after his rivals withdrew from the race ahead of the club’s election, scheduled for 9 March.

The presidential contest took a dramatic turn on Thursday, the final day for withdrawal of nomination papers, when Zainul Abdin Farroque and Sajed AA Adel pulled out of the race for the top post.

Their decisions cleared the path for Bulu to be elected unopposed as president of one of Bangladesh’s most historic sporting institutions.

Earlier, three candidates had submitted nominations for the presidency.

Bulu filed his nomination exclusively for the president’s post, while Farroque and Adel had submitted nomination papers for both president and director positions.

On the final day of withdrawal, Farroque withdrew both his presidential and director nominations through a representative.

Adel, however, decided to remain in the contest for a director’s position after withdrawing only his presidential nomination.

Meanwhile, Mostafa Kamal and Mahmud Hasan Khan have decided to withdraw their nominations for director posts.

The election commission said their applications contained technical errors and that a final decision on the matter will be announced later.

If their withdrawal requests are not accepted, 28 candidates will compete for 16 director positions, setting up a keenly contested battle for seats on the club’s board.

Friday will see the publication of the final list of candidates after the election commission completes the necessary scrutiny process.

Bulu will become the fifth president of Mohammedan since it was registered as a limited company. 

Kutub Uddin Ahmed became the club’s first president in 2011, followed by Mohammad Obaidul Karim and AM Amin Uddin.

The current president, Mohammad Abdul Mubeen (retd), will be replaced after the 9 March election.

While the presidential race has effectively ended, the fight for director positions is expected to be intense as members prepare to decide the club’s next leadership at the Black-and-White camp.