Elections at two elite clubs of the provincial capital – the Lahore Gymkhana and Punjab Club are being held today (Sunday). Saturday was the first day of three-day polling to elect eight-member management committee at the Punjab Club.
Gymkhana Club elections, however, became controversial after members accused their executive committee headed by Chairman Salman Siddique of nepotism and malpractice, informed sources told Pakistan Today on Saturday.
Sources said that the annual general body meeting of the premier Gymkhana Club on Saturday witnessed a free for all match of abuses and fist fights just a day before the annual election. They said that the meeting ended in disarray after some members landed into a heated argument with the incumbent chairman, Salman Siddique, and his committee members over giving permanent memberships to some members who didn’t fall in the seniority list, and the chairman’s proposal that the constitution of the club be amended under Companies Ordinance 1984 enabling the governing body to remain in place for three years instead of one.
“Justice (r) Sajjad Sipra, a member of the governing committee, lost control over his temper and started abusing the members who were objecting to the out-of-turn award of permanent memberships. The retired judge did not just stop at the abuses, as he lunged at a member and grabbed him by the neck. The ruckus became so disruptive that the chairman and his committee members had no choice but to flee the meeting room,” said the sources. They added that the club members were adamant in their demand for cancellation of Justice Sipra’s membership over his inappropriate behaviour.
The club’s election will be held today (Sunday) and only one panel, led by former chairman Mian Misbahur Rehman, has so far entered the race. The bureaucrats led by Salman Siddique have not come up with a panel for this year’s election.
PUNJAB CLUB ELECTION CONTROVERSY:
Meanwhile the election for the Punjab Club, which has 300 permanent members, has also run into controversy as an aspirant of the chairman’s office has been barred from contesting the poll for violating the club’s election rules.
Sources said that renowned cardiologist Jawad Sadiq and Aleem Khan are vying for the top office. However, a hurriedly re-constituted election commission body on Saturday barred Aleem from running for the office after it was revealed that he had hosted a banquet for some members of the club, including some members of the election commission, at a newly-inaugurated restaurant in the building owned by him in Garden Town. According to Punjab Club rules, candidates are forbidden from canvassing for any post.
A TALE OF TWO CLUBS
