LAHORE, Feb 14: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has ordered re-election of the Sheikhupura District Association (SDA) Thursday.

The elections were supervised by the PHF appointed election commissoner DCO Khusro Pervez and observer Karar Ali Bukhari and held Jan 31 Friday.

The re-elections are to be held tomorrow (Friday).

According to the results, Khalid Mehmood Virk and Muhammad Akhlaq Ahmed, with seven votes each were declared as president and the secretary. Former Olympian Navid Alam was elected as representative for the Punjab Hockey Association by SDA.

Navid in an hurriedly called press conference Thursday criticised the intervention of the PHF in the affairs of the elected SDA.

He alleged that the PHF secretary Brig. Mussaratullah Khan had become a party in the elections and sabotaging the image of the federation to only support the rival group which was being headed by his friend Col. (retd.) Abdul Rauf.

 Navid accused that the same group did not took part in the Jan-31 elections, deliberately, as they knew its fate and now had adopted unfair means with the support of the PHF.

He said that the PHF decision for re-election  was “ill- intentioned” as these were being held only one day before of the provincial hockey association which are scheduled to be held  on Saturday.

 He alleged that the PHF also kept the decision  of re-election secret as it revealed on him only on Thursday.

Navid a member of the Pakistan team and was awarded Pride of Performance Award on March 23, 1995, as a member of the World Cup in 1994, appealed to the PHF patron-in-chief president Pervez Musharaf and president General Muhammad Aziz Khan to intervene and stop the PHF secretary from adopting unfair practice.

Later, the PHF secretary Brig. Mussaratullah Khan told  Dawn that the re-elections were being held as out of total 14 clubs seven could not reach at the venue to cast their votes in Jan-31 elections and the re-elections were being held on their request.

It was learnt that DCO Sheikhupura has refused for conducting the elections for the second time and now the PHF has appointed Col. Sikandar Ghuman as election commissioner and Tariq Butt as its observer.

However, according to a term and condition set by the PHF for the DCOs for holding the elections says the DCOs “ will resolve  any controversy raised during the course of elections, abstention/walk-out  by any individual (s) shall be  ignored  and the elections completed by those, present”.