Gate-crashing, fist-fight mar annulled LPC polls

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 31 December 2015

The Lahore Press Club elections faced severe disruptions leading to their cancellation. Voter frustrations escalated into violence, prompting an emergency intervention.

Summary

LAHORE - Unprecedented mismanagement and mayhem were witnessed at the Lahore Press Club elections Wednesday (December 30) where a large number of voters tried to make a forced entry to the polling hall and created a near-stampede. The push was so strong it created cracks in the antique door of Alhamra Hall 3 and ultimately brought it off its hinges.

There was a scuffle and even a fist fight between the rival groups right there in the polling hall at which the election organizing body intervened and cancelled the polling to avoid a bigger clash. A new date for polling date will be announced in a couple of days.

The unwanted situation was created because of a delay in the start of the polling in the morning, frequent suspensions of the activity and the extraordinarily slow pace of the voting process caused by the on-site scrutiny of "suspicious voters." The polling started only when there was an agreement on formation of a body having representatives of both groups who would verify the antecedents of certain voters at the time voting.

As the number of voters swelled due to this time-consuming exercise and time passed they got desperate and resorted to this use of force, says a voter who could not cast his vote despite spending more than four hours at the venue.

This voter told JournalismPakistan.com that polling started around 10:45am instead of 9am as the Progressive Panel had reservations over the voting lists prepared by the outgoing Journalist Panel.

The office-bearers of Progressive Panel alleged that 220 voters in the old list and many among the recently enrolled 575 members were non-journalists and had been inducted on assurances of voting in favour of the Journalist Panel, he added.

It was also learnt that clashes occurred several times when the eligibility of certain voters was questioned and the leaders of the rival groups reportedly tried to unduly influence the voters inside the polling booths. The latest situation is that an eight-member committee with representation from both groups has been formed to look after the affairs of the club during the interim setup and to put things in order.

The Progressive Panel says they will try to convince the committee to cancel the membership of non-journalists and impose a bar on new members' voting this year. Inducting members 15 days before the polling date and making them vote for you is an unjustified move made with a malafide intent, they assert.

According to the feedback gathered from the movers and shakers of Lahore Press Club, the biggest task for the Journalist Panel during the interim period will be to unify its splinter groups. These groups have joined hands with the Progressive Panel and given it a new lease of life.

But to achieve this end, the bigwigs of the Journalist Panel may have to convince the outgoing president Arshad Ansari to withdraw his candidature and let somebody else contest for this slot this year. This is important because it was this very reason that created rifts within the ranks of the Journalist Panel.

Ansari is holding this slot for the last four years and has in total won it eight times during his professional career.