KARACHI, Aug 5: All seven seats reserved for the representatives of fishermen on the 15-member board of directors of the Fishermen Cooperative Society were clinched by the Jamote group in elections held at the Karachi Fish Harbour on Wednesday.

The first of its kind, held through secret ballot, the elections were organized by the registrar cooperatives. Polling remained smooth and peaceful without reports of any untoward incident. However, of the total 11,170 registered voters, only 3,510 cast their votes.

Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote bagged the highest tally of 2,060 votes, followed by Haji Mohammad Yunis (2,013) and Salim Deedag (2,003). Other. candidates declared successful included Habibullah Baloch, Mohammad Yaqub, Usman Lalwani and Habibullah Niazi. All seven directors have been elected for a three-year period.

In the contestant lot, four senior directors, who were members of the previous board retained their positions, while three lost their's. They included sitting chairman Abuzur Mariwara (Khadda), Ghulam Ali Mech (Baba and Bhit Islands) and Abdur Rauf (Nawabad).

After Wednesday's election, the society's composition of its 15-member board - the policy and decision making authority - has now been completed, as the provincial government had already announced its nominees for directors.

It was reliably learnt that the first meeting of the newly reconstituted board would be held next week for the purpose of electing a new chairman and vice-chairman of the society.

Talking to Dawn, Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote, who is senior member of the board, and having successfully held on to his position in every election, said elections were held in an impartial manner for which he gave credit to the registrar cooperatives.

However, he added there were certain flaws in the system of counting, adding that time could have been saved by announcing the result booth-wise. He claimed that some reports of attempted bogus voting were received but these were foiled by our active workers.

But, he admitted that on the whole the election process was transparent. Commenting on the future plans, the senior-most director of the FCS board further stated that the society was on the verge a of financial collapse.

He suggested that priority be given to improve the financial condition of the society by stopping all unnecessary expenses, clearing the salaries of newly-recruited employees. He further suggested that steps be taken for effective implementation of laws pertaining to illegal nets being used in the creeks.

At the same time, he said the government should also take into confidence the representatives of the fishermen community regarding deep-sea fishing, and make suitable changes in the existing laws, as there were certain reservations by the fishermen community over some provisions.

More importantly, Jamote said that priority should also be accorded to improve the socio-economic conditions of the fishermen by introducing reforms in the education and health sectors in fishermen villages. In this regard, he maintained that the government must fulfil its responsibilities, adding they would take up these issues on proper forums.