Much-awaited verdict: Ejaz Farooqi panel sweeps Arts Council elections

SHC gave commissioner orders to announce the results

KARACHI: The Ejaz Farooqi Panel at the Arts Council of Pakistan, which enjoyed the support of former secretary Ahmed Shah, swept the annual elections of the council. The results were announced on Thursday nearly 10 days after the polls were held.

The polls for the 2016 body of the Arts Council were conducted on December 20 but the results were deferred as the two contesting panels, Eajz Farooqi's and Shehr-e-Quaid, indulged in a row over the counting of votes.

Shah, who supported the Farooqi panel, told The Express Tribune that they clinched the polls with a huge margin. "For the post of Arts Council president, Professor Ejaz Farooqi bagged 1,647 votes while his opponent Rizwan Siddiqi of Shehr-e-Quaid panel bagged 1,090 votes," he said.



For the post of vice-president, Professor Sahar Ansari bagged 1,579 votes defeating Zaheer Khan, who managed to get 1,111 votes. The general secretary seat was won by Dr Huma Mir with 1,414 votes while her opponent, Najmuddin Sheikh, secured 1,219 votes.

The joint secretary seat was won by Athar Waqar Azeem with 1,678 votes while his opponent, Khalid Arain, managed to grab 980 votes. For the seat of treasurer, Shahnaz Siddiqi of Ejaz Farooqi panel took 1,641 votes while his opponent, qawwal Amjad Sabri, bagged 1,089 votes.

Court orders

On Thursday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had directed the Karachi commissioner, who was acting as election commissioner, to announce the results.

Headed by Justice Muhammad Faisal Kamal Alam, a single bench issued this direction in a lawsuit that dragged into litigation the results of the December 20 elections.

The Shehr-e-Quaid panel had approached the court against the rival, Ejaz Farooqi panel, for allegedly committing irregularities in the annual elections. It had argued that the Farooqi panel had announced its victory while the voting process was still under process on the day of the elections.

Secondly, he had alleged that a total of 2,700 votes were polled. It had accused the Farooqi panel of possessing around 1,500 un-polled votes and had apprehended that the defendant might use such unused ballot papers to manage its victory.

Initially, the court had appointed its official as commissioner to seize the election related material and seal it until further orders. At the following hearing, the court had directed its commissioner to complete the counting of the already seized votes but had restrained from announcing the results until further orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2016.