Agragami panel secures landslide victory in e-CAB polls
The other two panels contesting the election – Change Makers and Oikko – have rejected the results and have appealed for a manual recount
Agragami panel, led by Shami Kaiser, has won eight of the nine posts in the recently held e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) election (2022-24), says to an official announcement.
According to Amin Helaly, chief of e-CAB's election commission, FoodPanda founder Syeda Ambareen Reza got the highest number of votes in the polls – 453 out of the 601 valid votes.
Meanwhile, incumbent Secretary General of e-CAB Abdul Wahed Tomal, founder of Comjagat Technologies, got 386 votes; President Shami Kaiser, founder of Dhanshiri Digital, 365 votes; Breakbite eBusiness Ltd founder Asif Ahnaf 332 votes; Paperfly founder Shahriar Hasan 308 votes; Reverie Corporation and Women and e-commerce (WE) founder Nasima Akter 307 votes; e-CAB Vice President and Diabetes Store CEO Sahab Uddin Shipon 287 votes, and Digital Hub Solutions Ltd CEO Saidur Rahman received 273 votes.
Whereas, Sheba.xyz co-founder Ilmul Haque, as the only elected member of The Change Makers panel, got 270 votes.
Chaldal.com and Banglameds co-founder Waseem Alim, leader of the Change Makers' panel, stood 10th in the polls securing 265 votes.
Besides, Oikko Panel's leader and Jachai.com Chairman Abdul Aziz ranked 11th with 259 votes in yesterday's election.
Total 611 of the 795 registered voters participated in the polls held in Dhaka on Saturday.
Agragami Panel members, at a press briefing after the election, expressed their readiness to work for the development of the country's e-commerce sector and its entrepreneurs.
However, claiming "irregularities and mistakes" in the vote counting process through electronic scanning of paper ballots, Change Maker and Oikko panels requested the e-CAB election commission to recount the votes manually.
As per their request, the ballots were later sealed within the box and were kept in police custody, confirmed the leaders of the two other panels.
"We will soon formally appeal for a manual recount," Waseem Alim told The Business Standard.
"Right after the polls ended we urged the election commission for a manual recount. But they declined our request stating that they lack enough manpower to do so," he added.
Both the panel leaders said they believe the voting was carried out in a proper manner, but the counting was not.