LAHORE: A neck-and-neck contest is expected in the elections of the Model Town cooperative housing society scheduled to be held on March 1 for a three-year term starting next month.

The Model Town Society (MTS), a posh locality of Lahore, is considered to be an important residential area that was developed after being registered under societies' registration act 1925 around 90 years back.

The society was declared as an evacuee sort of property in 1947 after the Partition as 85 per cent of the plots belonged to non-Muslims, a majority of them were Hindus and Sikhs.

Two groups namely 'The Model Town Group' and 'The Unity Group' have fielded their candidates for 22 slots of the society, including president, vice president and 20-member management committee (two for each block).

Representing Model Town Group, Sahibzada Saifur Rehman and Chaudhry Muhammad Siddique are contesting for president and VP slots. The same group has also fielded candidates for 20 seats of management committee.

These include Dr Abdul Rehman, Mrs Wahida Awan, Mian Waheed, Sajjad Tariq, Wajahat Ali Khan, Mansoor Hashmi, Akbar Islampuri, Mian Hammad Hassan, Khalid Pervaiz, Zubair Sarwar, Yousuf Jamal Khan, Farrukh Saeed, Wasif Shah, Sheikh Fayyazuddin, Sardar Irfan, Anwaar Khan, Anjum Khan, Atif Siddiqui and Ahsan Ishfaq.

Similarly, the Unity Group has fielded Rana Mateen and Malik Sarfraz for presidentand VP seats. Its candidates for the management committee include Shielch Zafar, Shamim Chaudhry, Yasir Bhatti, Tariq Farooq, Muhammad Asad, Javaid Iqbal, Wahid Chaudhry, Farasat Shah and Naeem Khan.

Since the Model Town Group has been ruling the housing society for the last many years, its supporters are hopeful of victory for another term.

'The last elections were won by the Model Town Group. And for this term too we will win despite the fact Mr Rehman secured the slot by taking a lead of about 90 votes,' Arif Majeed, a member, says.

He says although he expects a good contest between two groups among 4,200 voters of the society, the winner will be Model Town Group as it did a lot of work during the tenure it completed recently.

Talking to Dawn, Mrs Naila Najam, a former member management committee who was elected twice in the past, says members may vote to the Unity Group this time for bringing about a change.

"Many members are expressing concerns over the increasing commercialisation, as they want to see the society green as it has always been," she says.

Mrs Najam says the election campaign lasts for a month after every three years and it involves huge money.

"You can see huge billboards, banners, signboards and other publicity material displayed by the both groups everywhere in Model Town."

She says at present a door-to-door campaign has been launched by the two groups besides organising rallies and corner meetings in all blocks of the society.