Chittagong Chamber’s election on April 4
Business Desk :
The Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) will hold its long-delayed biennial election for 2025-26 and 2026-27 on April 4, ending a months-long suspension triggered by allegations of vote manipulation.
The announcement, made in a notice on Tuesday by Election Board Chairperson Monowara Begum, follows a legal opinion from the Ministry of Commerce issued on February 26 that cleared the way for voting to resume.
The election was suspended on October 30, 2025, just two days before it was originally scheduled to take place.
The election will fill 24 director positions across four membership categories – Ordinary Group, Associate Group, Town Association, and Trade Group. Those directors will subsequently elect the chamber’s president and two vice presidents.
On polls day, members will vote for 18 directors from the Ordinary and Associate groups. The remaining six positions – three each from the Town Association and Trade Group – will be filled without contest, as no competing candidates have emerged in those categories, said Begum.
The vote marks a significant shift for the chamber. The last time voting took place at the chamber was in 2013. Since then, all committees have been formed without contest.
After the student-led mass uprising toppled the Awami League government on August 5, 2024, the entire CCCI board resigned on September 2. An administrator has run the chamber ever since.
When election schedules were announced in August 2025, members anticipated a return to democratic processes.
The polls were initially set for November 1, raising hopes that competitive voting would resume after more than a decade.
Those hopes stalled when a group of members alleged “pocket voting”, a practice where votes are cast or controlled improperly, in the Town Association and Trade Group categories.
They first appealed to the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, then filed for legal action, which led to the suspension of the election.
On October 22, the High Court ruled that the election could proceed for the Ordinary and Associate groups, but excluded the two contested categories.
The commerce ministry challenged that order in the Appellate Division. On October 30, the Appellate Division postponed the election for two weeks and directed the High Court to resolve the matter quickly.
On December 10, a High Court bench ruled there was no legal barrier preventing the Town Association and Trade Group from participating.
