Rigging allegations: Lahore Press Club elections postponed

LAHORE:

The Lahore Press Club annual elections were postponed on Wednesday after mayhem broke out over rigging allegations.

Earlier, the polling had to be stopped four times. Members of the Progressive Panel and Journalists’ Panel traded allegations over new memberships. There were also claims ineligible voters were caught red handed casting votes.

Shadab Riaz, the Progressive candidate for secretary, alleged that the Journalists’ Panel had added 200 names to the electoral list besides the 419 new members approved by the governing body.

He claimed that the voting was stopped when the Journalists’ Panel realised that they were going to lose.

Afzal Talib, the Journalist candidate for secretary, rejected the allegations. “When the Progressive Panel members saw its defeat in front of them, they started spreading false rumors. We gave them the option of counting the votes that had already been polled. However, they turned it down. We also offered to extend the polling time. They refused that as well,” he said.

He said that an eight-member committee would be constituted to decide the new election date.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2015.