The elections of Lahore Gymkhana’s management committee have been postponed once again after the resignation of a member of the election commission. Justice (retd) Sheikh Ahmed Farooq, one of the members of the election commission has resigned and the new nomination papers would be submitted by the candidates after the formation of
Justice (retd) Sheikh Ahmed Farooq, one of the members of the election commission has resigned and the new nomination papers would be submitted by the candidates after the formation of new election commission and the whole process would take a month or two.
According to the details, January 25 was announced as a polling date by the incumbent Committee of Management (CoM) but the Election Commission announced to hold the polling on January 28 which was opposed by both the contesting groups and it was decided that the election would be held on February 8 with the consent of both the contesting groups.
Two panels are in the race to grab the seats of CoM and 5,480 voters would take part in the polling. One group is being headed by Mian Misbah ur Rehman-the incumbent chairman of the club while Director General (DG) Walled City Authority of Lahore Kamran Lashari is leading the other group.
There are 12members each in every group. Mian Misbah- ur-Rehman-led group consisted of Mian Waqarudin, Sarmad Nadim, Mian Pervez Bhandara, Sq Ldr (retired) Ihsan Qadir, Javed Nasrullah, Shafqat Rana, Agha Ali Imam, Pervez Bashir Agha, Samiduin, Zahid Nabi Malik and Karamatullah Chaudhry.
The panel of Kamran Lashari-led group comprised of Shaukat Javed, Samiur Rehman, Khawaja Imran Zubair, Ahsan Saeed Mian, Sameera Maroof, Dr Jawad, Dr Ali Razaq, Dr Atif Kazmi, Moeen, Javed Zahoor and Khalid Rafique.
Lashari-led group showed resentment over the postponement of the election and demanded that the election must be held on February 8 at any cost. “The resignation of one of the members of the election commission cannot be a reason to postpone the election as the process has already been completed,” Kamran Lashari said.
Seeking anonymity, one of the members of Lahore Gymkhana told Pakistan Today that Mian Misbah ur Rehman-led incumbent group used delaying tactics as their position was very weak and they wanted to buy more time in order to form a strong group.
“It has been a tradition that the elections of Lahore Gymkhana used to be held in the month of December every year but the story is altogether different this time around,” the member said.
The current body was elected in December, 2013 and there have been no elections since then.
