With low turnout, ANP to conclude its membership drive soon amid threats

After bogus registration in last membership drive, party leaders scrutinise newcomers.

KARACHI: The Sindh chapter of Awami National Party (ANP) kick-started its membership drive across the province on November 20 but party insiders have revealed that this year the turnout for membership has been almost half of the previous drive held in April 2011.

The district election commission teams will meet on December 15 to decide when to conclude the drive. As per the party constitution, the membership drive is carried out every four years. This year is an exceptional case as the party’s former chief dissolved the organisational structure of the party after its defeat in the May 11 general elections. The main purpose of the membership drive was to hold the intra-party elections.

In the 2011 membership drive, at least 287,000 members were recruited but this time not more than 100,000 people are expected to join, the party election commission sources revealed.

Reasons behind low turnout

A senior party member said that the party had fallen victim to the practice of bogus registrations last time. “More than half the memberships were bogus, issued by opportunists to get maximum votes in the intra-party elections.” This time the party leaders are scrutinising applicants more strictly so that bogus memberships could be avoided.



“Bogus membership was the reason why we collapsed in the general election,” he said, adding that they had 15,000 membership applications from one area in 2011, but only issued 2,000 membership cards this time. According to him, the threats from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the on-going operation of the law enforcers have affected the turnout this year.

Criteria for selection

“I want ideological members, not criminals who use party name for extorting money. The members should know the philosophy of Bacha Khan Baba,” he said.



A party activist in Landhi, Yasir Kundie was happy with the decline of membership “The real followers of the Bacha Khan Baba are those who can never be deterred by any threat and people who can face hardships for the party,” he said, adding that they were facing threats but were carrying out their drive by contacting people individually. Kundie was hopeful that the party would return to its traditional politics.

The drive was supposed to start from October 1 but due to the blast in Peshawar’s Qisa Khawani Bazaar, which affected the party printing press, it started on November 20, said the party Election Commission Chairperson Advocate Altaf. He admitted that the membership will be half of the previous drive but blamed the security threats for the decline and did not comment on the bogus membership. “We cannot set up camps like the previous drive and have limited ourselves to door-to-door campaign because of the security threats,” he said. The membership fee is Rs20 and anyone who is older than 16 years and is a Pakistani national can get the party membership. The members will also be able to vote in the party’s internal elections and contest election for becoming an office bearer in the party.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2013.