Only four candidates are in the run for the post of the president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) elections, scheduled to be held on September 25.
Initially, 15 candidates filed their nomination papers out of which seven nomination papers were found valid. Later, 11 candidates withdrew their names left only four in the contest for the KCCI top slot.
The main tussle is between S. Khalid Tawab, a candidate of the Businessmen Alliance (supported by S.M. Munir group) and Khalid Firoz Arfeen, candidate of the Businessmen Group (supported by Siraj Kassam Teli group)as well as other independent candidates, Muzaffar Saeed and M. Siddiq Qasim.
Both the Businessmen Alliance and the Businessmen Group have worked hard to get majority support for their candidates. They have made people to people contact to motivate them to vote for their candidates. Competition is tough and it is difficult to say which group will get majority of seats and which groups presidential candidate will get success.
In the category of the Member Class seats a total of 31 candidates are in the run for 14 vacant seats.
Earlier, the KCCI received a total of 47 nomination papers out of which 42 were found valid.
Businessmen Group: Those in the run for 14 seats for the Member Class include Muhammad Jawad Bilwani, Mian Abrar Ahmed, H.M. Shahzad, Mohammed Naqi Bari, Hafeez Aziz, Javed Ahmed Vohra, Mohammed Ibrahim Kasumbi, Mohammed Ali, Tariq Malik, Shakeel-ur-Rehman, Sultan Mahmood, Muhammad Suleman Chawala, Moazzam Hayat Paracha, and Mohammad Younsuf Surawala.
Businessmen Alliance: Candidates include Mohammed Siddiq, Nadeem A. Kushtiwala, Sh Manzar Alam, Jaffer Abdul Sattar Kudia, Shahbaz Ali Malik, Naveed Gul, Ahmed Chinoy, Amir Iqbal, Asif Abdul Majeed, Kamran Riaz, Khurram Khalil, Altaf Majeed, Alamgir A Shaikh and Muhammad Asif Khan.
Independent candidates include Saad Khalid, Mohammad Imroz and Muhammad Kashif Ahmed.
There are only two candidates including Shahid Ismail and Syed Usman Ali in the run for one seat of the Town Association Class.