HYDERABAD: A total of 95 nomination forms have been submitted for 10 wards of the Cantonment Board Hyderabad (CBH) but its management denied media access to the vital information, saying that the list would be displayed on the notice board on Wednesday.

Dawn has, however, learnt that the actual number of candidates is 69 but the number of papers appeared as high as 95 because some candidates filed multiple nominations. It is also learnt that election would be held on a party basis and not a non-party basis as was earlier believed. One of the candidates also seconded the information.

The candidates who have submitted their forms belong to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and some other parties. Historically, candidates with a PPP or MQM background have been winning the elections held from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.

The scrutiny of forms will be held from April 2 to 4.

Perhaps for the first time in the history of CBH polls, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) staff is also assisting in the process. The incumbent CBH cantonment executive officer is the returning officer for the 10 wards.

Strange secrecy

It appears as if the CBH authorities want to keep the electoral process unusually secret or avoid sharing information with the media.

March 31 was the last date for the submission of nomination forms but when this correspondent visited the CBH offices after 5pm to collect the list of candidates, he was stopped by security guards at the gate and no one was there to share the information.

Even the ECP puts all information including assets of candidates on its website for the information of the general public but why the CBH management is acting like this is anybody’s guess. It was not seen even in 2005 when the non-party basis elections were announced in cantonments and when the process also got under way.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2015

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