Bank defaulter Amjad Chowdhury’s candidacy remains illegal, no more obstacles to BSBRA elections

Controversial business leader Amjad Hossain Chowdhury is unable to participate in the Bangladesh Shipbreaking and Recyclers Association (BSBRA) elections. Amjad lost his legitimacy after the court canceled his candidacy due to debt default and ruled in favor of the Election Commission. The court of the full bench of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Zubair Rahman Chowdhury, Md. Ashfaqul Islam, Md. Rezaul Haque and Farah Mahbub, gave this order on Monday.
It is learned that on April 30, the Election Management Board canceled Amjad’s nomination on the grounds of debt default. Then, when he appealed to the Election Appeal Board, the appeal was rejected at the hearing. On May 10, the decision to cancel the nomination was communicated to the Appeal Division of the Election Management Board through a written letter. The Appeal Board rejected Amjad’s appeal as the CIB report by Bangladesh Bank confirmed that he was a debt defaulter. Amjad Hossain filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the order of the Election Board. In it, the Election Board declared his candidacy valid and ordered him to participate in the election. The Election Board appealed to the Appellate Division against that order. After the hearing on June 3, the Appellate Division stayed the order of the High Court. At the same time, it ordered all election activities to be suspended until June 8 and fixed the hearing date for June 8 in the full bench.
After the hearing in the full bench yesterday, Monday, the court declared Amjad’s candidacy invalid and ordered the election activities to continue. As a result, there is no more obstacle in organizing the election.
Secretary (Deputy Secretary) of Bangladesh Shipping Corporation and BSBRA Administrator Abu Safayet Md. Sahe Dul Islam said that after the hearing in the full bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, the High Court’s writ petition filed by Amjad Hossain Chowdhury has been stayed. As a result, there is no more obstacle in holding the election. The Election Commission had cancelled Amjad Hossain Chowdhury’s candidacy as per the election policy as his name was listed as a ‘wilful defaulter’ in the Credit Information Bureau (CIB) of Bangladesh Bank. The court has upheld that order. Therefore, Amjad Hossain has no opportunity to participate in the election.
The BSBRA election was scheduled to be held on October 25 last year. Eleven people submitted nomination papers against 11 posts in the election. Even then, due to Amjad Hossain’s unwanted interference, the election board resigned on September 15, citing the reason of not being able to ‘discharge his duties independently’. As a result, no more elections were held.
BSBRA sources said that Amjad took over the post of president on November 3, 2025, violating the organization’s articles of association. Amjad was removed on charges of anti-organization activities and the Ministry of Commerce appointed Bangladesh Shipping Corporation Secretary Abu Safayat Muhammad Shahe Dul Islam as the administrator on February 5. Taking charge, the administrator formed the Election Management Board and the Election Appeal Board on March 1 and announced the schedule on March 2.
According to the schedule, the primary voter list was published on April 9 and the final voter list on April 16. The sale of nomination forms began on April 19 and the last date for filing nominations was April 23. The list of eligible candidates was published on April 29 after scrutiny and selection. The last date for appeals against candidature was May 3 and the appeal hearing was held on May 6. The list of valid candidates was published on May 22. The last date for withdrawal of candidature was May 25; the list of final candidates was published on the same day. Since there was one candidate each for the posts of President and Senior Vice President, they were declared elected unopposed.