Khorshed Alam Khasru and Shamsul Alam have regained their candidacies for the Bangladesh Film Producers and Distributors Association election. They are contesting the posts of president and general secretary respectively.
The Election Appeal Board reinstated their nominations on Sunday (12 July). It also published a revised voter list that includes both candidates.
The Appeal Board is headed by Mahbuba Khatun Minu, Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce. Deputy Secretary Farhana Islam and Chitra Shikari are serving as members.
Reacting to the decision, Khasru said, “We believed we would receive justice. We are happy with the Appeal Board’s decision. We hope to contribute to the development of the film industry if elected.”
Since its establishment, the country’s leading film industry body had been run by elected committees. However, except for a brief interval after 2013, administrators have managed the association’s affairs for a prolonged period. The situation has fuelled dissatisfaction among industry members over the absence of effective leadership.
The association’s election has been delayed several times over the past seven years. The last election took place on 27 July 2019. Since then, it has failed to hold a fresh election.
The prolonged deadlock stemmed mainly from disputes over the voter list and legal complications. Under the association’s constitution, producers become eligible to vote four years after one of their films receives clearance from the Censor Board. Previously, producers who made multiple films could obtain additional voting rights through multiple powers of attorney. A section of the association’s members had long opposed the practice.
The election was initially scheduled for 21 May 2022. The Selim Khan–Dipjol panel and the Mushfiqur Rahman Gulzar–Kamal Md Kibria Lipu panel were set to contest. However, the High Court suspended the election on polling day following a writ petition filed by producer Mohammad Hossain. The petition alleged that multiple individuals had been registered as voters under the same TIN. The court later cancelled those voting rights and ordered the preparation of a new voter list.
Disputes over the revised voter list also continued, leaving the process of forming an elected committee stalled for years.
After seven years of uncertainty, the Election Commission announced a fresh schedule in April this year. The most significant change was the abolition of the multiple voting system through powers of attorney. Under the new rules, a producer will be recognised as only one voter, regardless of the number of films produced. The commission also fixed deadlines for publishing the preliminary voter list and renewing memberships.
The election was first scheduled for 11 July before being postponed to 8 August. On 5 July, the Ministry of Commerce published a list of 40 valid candidates for the 2026–2028 term.
However, the list excluded the nominations of Shamsul Alam and Khorshed Alam Khasru. Their candidacies have now been reinstated by the Appeal Board.
