FPCCI elections today

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the apex body of the chambers, has made all arrangement to hold its annual election for the term of 2017, on Friday (today). Voting will begin at 9.30 am and continue till 6 pm.
Eligible voters will elect a president, a senior vice president, three vice presidents representing the chambers of commerce and industries from Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and four vice presidents representing the associations of trade and industry.
Balochistan has one seat of vice president in the FPCCI for which the election committee has received only one nomination paper of Wali Muhammad, a contestant belonging to the UBG hence he was declared elected unopposed, unofficially.
The nominees of chambers of commerce and industries including women chambers, chamber for small traders, national-level associations representing industry, trade and services will cast their votes. United Business Group (UBG) led by Iftikhar Ali Malik and a joint group of Businessmen Panel (BMP) led by Tariq Saeed and Pakistan Business Group (PBG) led by Aqeel Karim Dedhi have run a vigorous electoral campaign.
BMP, PBG and UBG claim they are in a comfortable position. They hope landslide victory in the FPCCI elections. FPCCI election committee received three nominations for the position of president. They included Zubair Tufail, Gulzar Firoze and Abdul Rahim Janoo. After withdrawal of nomination by Gulzar Firoze (UBG), one to one contest between Zubair Tufail of the UBG and Abdul Rahim Janoo, a joint candidate of the BMP and PBG will occur on Friday (today).
Likewise, there will be one to one contest between Aamer Ata Bajwa, a nominee of the UBG and Mian Anjum Nisar, a joint candidate of the BMP and PBG on senior vice president's seat. Three candidates including Al Haaj Dhani Bukhsh Memon of the UBG, Ghulam Mustafa Salangi backed by the BMP and PBG and Bashir Ahmed M Paryal Shaikh are in the run for one seat of vice president of Sindh province.
On federal area's seat of vice president, there are two candidates including Mian Shaukat Masud of the UBG and Shahidur Rehman, joint candidate of the BMP and PBG. One seat of vice president from Punjab is being contested by Manzoorul Haq Malik (UBG) and Mian Muhammad Usman Zulfiqar (BMP and PBG).
Three contestants including Kaleemullah, Mohammad Wazir and Rasheed Ahmed Paracha (BMP and PBG) are in the run for one post of vice president from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There are 11 contenders vying for votes for four seats of vice presidents from associations of trade and industry including Irfan Ahmed Sarwana (UBG), Mirza Ishtiaq Baig (UBG), Haji Attaur-Rehman (UBG), Zahid Umar, Mohsin Abbas Dharsi (BMP and PBG), Sheikh Shakil Ahmed (UBG), Saquib Fayyaz Mangoon (BMP and PBG), Shahzeb Akram, Rashad Islam (BMP and PBG), Muhammad Arshad Jamal and Noor Ahmed Khan.
Sajjad Sarwar (UBG) and Malik Mehr Elahi (BMP and PBG) are to contest for one seat for chamber of small traders and small industry. Similarly, one-to-one contest between Masooma Sibtain (UBG) and Dr Shehla Javed Akram (BMP and PBG) will take place on seat of vice president reserved for the women chamber of commerce and industry.