Results announced: Ahmed Shah’s panel sweeps Arts Council election

No one from Najmuddin-Tajdar-Amin panel could secure any position

KARACHI: The panel of Ahmed Shah-Ejaz Farooqi panel swept the elections of Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, as no one from the rival Najmuddin-Tajdar-Amin panel secured any seat.

The polling began on Sunday at 1:30pm and continued till 9:30pm.

According to the spokesperson of the Arts Council, Rozina Rasheed, a total of 2,082 votes were cast, out of which, 56 were cancelled. Rasheed added that Ahmed Shah won the seat for the president after having bagged 1,992 votes while his opponent, Najamuddin Sheikh, managed to get only 647 votes.

For the seat of vice-president, Athar Waqar Azeem won with 1,863 votes while his opponent Tajdar Adil got 771 votes. For the seat of secretary, Ejaz Farooqi got 2,010 votes while Ameen Yousuf from the opposing group secured only 573 votes. While Qudsia Akbar won the seat of joint secretary with 1,823 votes while Faheem Siddiqui of the rival group only got 761 votes.

All the members of the governing body contesting from Ahmed Shah panel managed to win their seats, which included Haseena Moin, Talat Hussain, Dr Qaisar Sajjad, Kashif Girami, Sahar Ansari, Dr Huma Mir, Sajid Hassan, Iqbal Lateef, Noorul Huda Shah, Sohail Ahmed and Sheikh Rashid Alam.

Later on, Ahmed Shah told The Express Tribune that it has been proven once again that the members of the Arts Council are satisfied with their performance, which is why they have continued to vote for us.

"Despite negative propaganda, we managed to secure this victory," said Shah. "We feel like that our responsibilities to serve have increased. I assure members that they will not be disappointed but  see more energy in my team."

Shah also asked the opponent panel to join hands with them and work for the betterment of Arts Council of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Aslam Sheikh, who lost his governing body seat while contesting from the Najmuddin-Tajdar-Amin panel, said that while the Arts Council belongs to the artistes, it seems that the members here have no interest in electing the artistes.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2016.