Arts Council elections to be held today

Candidates will be elected for two-year terms

KARACHI: Around 5,963 people will vote in the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi elections today. The candidates belong to different fields related to art and most have artistic backgrounds.  In recent years, the Arts Council has been playing a crucial role in the development of art and culture of the city.

This year's election is being held to elect people for two-year-terms instead of one-year-term, which was previously the norm. The two main camps contesting the elections are the Najm, Tajadar and Amin Panel, and the Ahmed Shah and Ejaz Faruqi Panel.

From the first panel, Najamuddin Shaikh is contesting against the president seat and will be competing against Muhammad Ahmed Shah. The third candidate for the position of president’s is Qari Sadaqat Ali, who is an independent candidate.

For the post of vice-president, Tajdar Adil is standing up from the first panel and current joint secretary Ather Waqar Azeem from the second panel.

For the post of secretary, there are four candidates - current president Ejaz Faruqi, Humayoon Sarfraz, Mansoor Zuberi and Muhammad Amin Yousuf.

Other positions being contested are joint secretary and treasurer and a total of 25 candidates are standing up for the positions of general body members.

Voters are required to reach the Arts Council at 9am, after which a general body meeting will be held, which will last about two hours.  Polling will begin half-an-hour after this and will continue to eight hours. The votes will be counted throughout the night and the results will be announced the next morning.

There are 10 people who will serve as both returning officers as well as presiding officers.

There is also a supervisory committee, which includes the chief election commissioner, Ejaz Ahmed Khan who is the chairperson of the Arts Council and Karachi commissioner, and additional commissioner, South deputy commissioner Mohammad Rafiq Qureshi.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2016.