SWABI: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl provincial election chief MPA Maulana Asmatullah has announced that voting for election of party’s Swabi district president would be held again at Shahmansoor maddressah here on Thursday.

The voting for the district president slot was held on Monday, but the process soon became controversial when one of the contestants former provincial minister Maulana Fazal Ali alleged that he had detected over 400 fake votes.

Mr Ali and Maulana Attaul Haq were contesting for the district president slot. Mr Haq till recently was Mr Ali’s deputy in the district. “It was for the first time that Mr Haq contested elections against Mr Ali, who dominated the party affairs in the district to date, but was now facing a defeat,” said a party activist.

Relations between the two leaders deteriorated when Mr Haq contested the by-elections from NA-13, Swabi-2. Both applied for the ticket, but the party leadership awarded it to Mr Haq.

Allegedly 400 fake votes were cast in Monday’s poll

When contacted, Mr Ali said that he had declared at the election venue that if the results were announced he would not accept it. “We have informed the party provincial leadership about the use of fake votes,” he said. Answering a question, the former minister said that if the election process proceeded he would not accept the result. “It would certainly lead to the division of the party,” he said.

However, Mr Haq’s supporters said that Mr Ali had faced defeat in Razaar, Chota Lahor and Topi tehsils and now his defeat was also certain. They looked confident that their leader (Mr Haq) would emerge victorious.

DAGGAR OFFICE-BEARERS: The executive committee of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl on Tuesday unanimously chose MPA Mufti Fazal Ghafoor as district amir for another three-year term while Mufti Saeedur Rehman again grabbed the general secretary slot after due process of voting.

The executive committee members and key figures of the party gathered at the residence of late Maulana Abdur Rehman at Zaga in Daggar, where elections for only the secretary general’s slot were held between Mufti Saeedur and Maulana Shamsul Aarifeen. Majority of the voters supported Mufti Saeed for another term.

JUI-F provincial election chief MPA Maulana Asmatullah and district chief Maulana Mohammad Afzal supervised the election process.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2014