Eleven candidates on Thursday filed their nominations for five vacant seats of the executive committee, Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) as rival group of Businessman Panel (BP) go on boycott of the annual polls of the apex trade boy of the province.
"Majority of the eleven candidates who filed nominations were either have affiliation with Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour led Businessman Forum (BF) or independent," said business circles of the city. Thursday, August 24, was last day for the filing of the nominations.
Those filed nominations were including Engineer Zahid Arif, Riaz Arshad, Haji Pervez Ahmad, Haji Sabz Ali Khan, Syed Ejaz Ali Shah Bokhari, Haji Mohammad Asif, Mazhar-ul-Haq, Shahid Munir, Mohammad Tariq Rana, Liaquat Ahmad Khan and Abdul Wasi Noorani.
The likely candidates of the ruling Businessman Forum would be Engineer Zahid Arif, Riaz Arshad, Mazhar-ul-Haq, Shahid Munir and Haji Mohammad Asif, a favourite candidate for the top slot of the chamber. Sabz Ali Khan and Abdul Wasi are likely to be independent candidates.
Businessman Forum is at the helm of affairs of the chamber since 2002-03 after the group ended its alliance with Faiz Rasool Group, a former two term president of the chamber.
This year, Businessman Forum is once again in the contest sans any challenger and is likely to have smooth sailing. The group is set to retain all five vacant seats.
In this connection, when Business Recorder contacted, Faiz Rasool Khan, vice president, Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) and leader of his group in SCCI, he said they had given open field to Senator Bilour group in the chamber polls.
"We cannot compete the rigging tactics of our opponents, who are out to win the polls by hook or by crook, using all available official machinery like Secretary Commerce, Director Trade Organisation (DTO), therefore, we have remained with no option other than boycotting the annual elections," he complained adding that they have been denied justice.
Recalling the episode of last year, he said that the nominations of all candidates of their group were rejected last year without any justification to maintain the existing one-man rule in the chamber. However, he said that soon or later the group would face disintegration as internal rift has already been emerged in the group. "We had given them walkover as a protest enabling them to serve the business community of the province as per their manifesto," he concluded.
The scrutiny of the nominations would be held on August 26, for which a meeting had already been convened. The last date for the withdrawal of the nomination papers is September 8, while polling for the five vacant seats is scheduled for September 16.
The polling would commence from 8:00am and would continue till 3:00pm.
The name of the success candidates would be announced on the same day. The elections for the offices of President, Senior Vice President, and Vice President would be held on September 28.
The election scrutiny committee of the chamber comprises of Sufi Bashir Ahmad Durrani, Amanullah Khan Mohmand and Haji Iftikhar Ahmad. Sufi Bashir Ahmad Durrani, who was chairman of the committee last year once again heading the body.
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