LAHORE: The upcoming elections of the Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) have become “controversial” after the allegations of violations of the poll by-laws were leveled against the incumbent body.

The ruling group, particularly came under fire when five out of the 20 councilors of the CPSP were accused of using influence on the voters while heading the public sector medical institutions. It raised an issue of “conflict of interest” because they were holding two positions at the same time in two different degree-awarding institutions overseeing postgraduate medical programmes.

Of the five councilors, two are vice-chancellors of the medical universities in Lahore which run the MS/MD degree programmes, while the CPSP overseas the rival diploma – FCPS-, an official privy to the information told Dawn.

The official, quoting none other than a senior office-bearer of the outgoing body (the CPSP vice-president from Balochistan) said that the ruling group wanted re-election of the CPSP president “again from the same region for the 4th consecutive term”.

The outgoing office bearers of the CPSP who served for a four-year term (2015-2018) included Prof Zafar Ullah Chaudhry (president), Maj Gen Salman Ali (senior vice president), Prof Naqib Ullah Achakzai (vice president) and Prof Khalid Ahmad Ashrafi (treasurer).

The ex-official, in his letter to former president Prof Zafar Ullah Chaudhry, alleged that a particular group of councilors had been “holding monopoly” in the CPSP polls to always get the president elected from one region.

He said that group retained hegemony on the council’s affairs as it had been sweeping the previous three elections by forming a panel of its own choice.

In case of a candidate contradicting the group’s decision or expressing the desire in the council meeting to contest for the president’s slot, he or she would be thrown out of the poll race in violation of the CPSP by-laws, he said.

He also mentioned names of many candidates from smaller provinces who despite qualifying for the president’s slot were denied an opportunity.

This group, he warned, had become active again for the same purpose ahead of the council elections to achieve the same results.

He was of the view that as most of the CPSP council members were from Punjab (11 out of total 20), those belonging to other provinces could not get elected to president’s slot which was contrary to the national spirit.

To avoid such a scenario in the upcoming polls, some of the members backed the idea of rotation of the presidential office on yearly basis (during the council’s four-year term) to give representation to all the four provinces.

In this regard the amendment made by the Supreme Court Bar Association, which faced a similar situation years back, could also be followed. The SCBA resolved the issue by allowing rotation of the post of president province-wise through mutual agreement.

While demanding reforms in the CPSP electoral process, the office bearer alleged that the ruling group had started maneuvering of the electorate for re-election of the outgoing president for the 4th consecutive term.

Established in 1962 through an act of the parliament, the CPSP oversees the postgraduate medical education and professional development in the country. It is the only autonomous postgraduate medical examining body which awards diplomas in FCPS and MCPS and was handling more than 20,000 fellows.

In the 183rd Council meeting held on 17 January, the CPSP announced schedule for the elections of new council and faculties for four-year term (2019-2023).

According to CPSP by-laws, the minutes of meeting are circulated among the councilors and 15 days are given to them to record their comments and observations to make the decisions of the council effective.

However, no time was given and the schedule was announced immediately after the 17th January meeting without getting the councilors’ remarks on the minutes.

As per the schedule, the next council elections will be held on Feb 23. Interestingly, the tenure of the elected body was to expire in April this year.

The sudden announcement of new elections just three months before the expiry of the tenure of the body also raised eyebrows of many fellows.

Particularly, the announcement of the poll schedule sent a wave of resentment among the rival groups who were unprepared for the elections.

Talking to Dawn, CPSP former president Prof Chaudhry clarified, saying the electoral process was being carried out “on merit”.

“It is not a political organisation, rather a body which was constituted according to the system provided through an act of parliament”, he said, adding that it was the right of the voter to elect president no matter to where he or she belonged.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2019