Election day: Arts Council members make their votes count

KARACHI: The atmosphere at the Arts Council of Pakistan came alive during its annual elections for 2016 as contesting candidates shouted slogans of their respective panels and convinced members to vote for them.

Due to the delay in the general body meeting, polling began late afternoon on Sunday. The results were announced early morning today (Monday).

Arts Council members casted their votes to elect five office-bearers and 12 members of the governing body for the year, 2016. There was a straight fight between two panels.

Ejaz Ahmed Faruqi of the Ahmed Shah-Ejaz Faruqi panel was contesting for the post of president against Rizwan Siddiqui of the Shahr-e-Quaid panel. Sahar Ansari was vying for the vice-president's post against M Zaheer Khan of the Shahr-e-Quaid panel.



Huma Mir of the Ahmed Shah-Ejaz Faruqi panel was competing for the post of secretary against Najumuddin Shaikh while Athar Waqar Azim was contesting for the joint secretary's post against Khalid Arain of the Shahr-e-Quaid panel.

The camps of both the panels were set up inside the premises and were issuing voting receipts to the members. The road adjacent to Arts Council was closed for transport and heavy security was deployed inside and outside the venue.

"Everything is going smoothly until now, and hopefully our panel will win as it has for the past eight years," said Faruqi.

"Though the turnout is low, it will increase at night," said Arain, while speaking about voter turnout.

At the occasion, politician and Arts Council member Mirza Ikhtiar Baig said that Ahmed Shah Panel seems strong but it's too early to comment on the results.

Arts Council is a place of literature and culture, he said. No political party should interfere in its matters, he added.

Election commissioner Saleem Rajput said that peace was maintained throughout the day. Hopefully, it will persist until the results are announced in the morning, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st,  2015.