LAHORE: Dr Jawad/Misbah panel on Saturday defeated the outgoing chairman Kamran Lashari panel with a thumping majority in Lahore Gymkhana elections for 2020. Dr Jawad panel won eight out of 12 seats, while Lashari panel could get four seats.

The election was a high turnout event as 3,019 votes were polled out of total 5,500 permanent members (54.89 per cent).

The Dr Jawad panel candidates, who have been elected to the Committee of Management (CoM), are: Dr Jawad Sajid Khan (1,795 votes); Mian Misbahur Rehman (1,782 votes); Dr Ali Razaque (1,661); Mian Parvez Bhandara (1,519); Sarmad Nadeem (1,472); Wajid Aziz Khan (1,339); Ms Samira Maroof Khan (1,296) and Agha Ali Imam (1,261).

The Lashari panel’s elected members are: Kamran Lashari (1,645 votes); Khawaja Imran Zubair (1,400); Ahsan Saeed Mian (1,279) and Shaukat Javed (1,235).

In the elected body meeting soon after the announcement of results declared in the early hours of Sunday, Dr Jawad Sajid Khan was elected as chairman.

Speaking to Dawn, Dr Khan said the club voters had overwhelmingly voted for his panel’s vision that the elected body should serve only one year (instead of three years) as was the practice in all clubs across the country. “The members did not want that a management committee that continued holding power for three years, be again given mandate for another three years,” Dr Khan said.

“Former chairman Kamran Lashari made no serious effort to reduce the CoM tenure and even ridiculed the senior members during his election campaign,” he added.

Answering a question about extravagant spending during the election campaign, Dr Khan said the CoM would seek general body’s opinion and plan to reduce the amount of money and time spent on election campaign.

Reiterating his criticism about extravagant spending of club funds and artificial development and renovation, Dr Khan said he would go for forensic audit as committed to the club members but there would be no witch-hunt. Referring to his commitment of subsiding food at the club, he said subsidy would be wrong terminology and added the food would be available at “cost-effective rates”.

He said creating of parking space for some 500 cars, in a phased manner, would remain a priority.

Dr Khan also said that he would also like to ensure that there should be no out-of-turn membership.

When contacted, Kamran Lashari acknowledged that his opponents had outclassed him in politics. “I wish they will also outclass me in performance as well,” added Mr Lashari, who contested election on the sole slogan of performance and “seeing is believing”. He stressed that real thing in public life was always performance as he always remained firm on this premise.

Answering a question, Mr Lashari said the voting patron in the Lahore Gymkhana election was still driven by `politics’ more than the performance. “I wish a society reaches a stage, where performance is the hallmark of our institutions and not politics of biradari, favours and connections,” he said.

Responding to a question about his role as opposition in the club, Mr Lashari said that his other three team members would act as watchdog and ensure that the good work done should not be demolished. “I have greater vocation in life and now focusing more on my expanding scope of work as Walled City of Lahore Authority chairman across Punjab as well as in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The election results remained interesting in the sense that Mr Lashari, who had scored highest votes in the last election, was hoping for same response from his voters “owing to his performance”, remained fourth in the 12-member list. Dr Khan, Mian Misbahur Rehman and Dr Ali Razaque bagged the top three positions.

The club members say Kamran Lashari had lost strength as his three colleagues, Dr Khan, Dr Razaque and Ms Samira Maroof Khan had parted ways – along with their patrons (former club chairmen Salman Siddique and Fariduddin Ahmad).

The three members had parted ways because Mr Lashari had not honoured his words of allowing Dr Khan to serve as club chairman for the last year as committed, when they were brought in to make Lashari panel a winning combination.

The 17 other candidates, who were in the run, were: Parvez Bashir Agha (1,189 votes); Qamar Khan (Bobby), who for the first time joined a panel, could bag 1,170 ballots; Zahid Nabi Malik got 1,165 votes; Ms Rabeea Salman, who was contesting her maiden election, scored 1,163 votes; Dr Abdul Majeed Chaudhry got 1,130 votes; Mian Javed Zahur (1,104 votes); ex-DIG Samiur Rahman (1,053); Syed Tayyab Hussain Rizvi (1,025); Taimur Azmat Osman (1,015); Dr Syed Atif Hasnain Kazmi (994); Col. Prof Dr Iffat Batool, again a new comer, got 949 votes; Zil A Ilahi secured 820 votes.

The five independents are Syed Abid Hussain (459 votes); Muhammad Shams Qaiser (218); Dr Shaukat Ali (178); Khalid Saeed (164); Malik Ghulam Sarwar (88).

The results were notified by Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sheikh Ahmad Farooq and members Anwar Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Khalid Nawaz.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2020