Dubai: A row between the Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai and the community groups has once again marred the elections of Pakistan Social Centre in Sharjah, Gulf News has learnt.

While one of the panels claimed to have been elected unopposed without voting as there were no contestants, the consulate officials refused to issue them notification saying that they do not qualify to win because they fail to meet the criteria and rules agreed upon before the elections.

The dispute has escalated so much during the last few days that it has prompted different community groups to hold press conferences on the issue. One of groups, which was left out in the election process, spoke in favour of the consulate and welcomed the postponement of elections in the best interest of the community while the other group, which claimed victory, criticised the consulate officials blaming them of partiality.

The matter has developed to such a point that some influential Pakistani politicians have also got involved in the dispute supporting their respective groups.

Elections for the Pakistan Social Centre were supposed to be held on February 12 for the first time after seven years. However, the two rival panels — Pakistan Forum and the Pak-Emarat International Forum — agreed to join hands and decided to pitch a joint panel comprising of candidates from both the groups to contest elections for the eleven posts of the governing body of the Centre. The panel led by Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal submitted the nomination papers on January 25 and no other panel came forward to contest the elections.

Chaudhry Zafar's panel claimed victory and asked the consul general to issue notification to officially declare them winners but the consulate objected to the procedure and said that elections would not be accepted until the Centre has at least 2,000 as was agreed in a meeting held on December 18 involving all the groups.

However, the winning panel said that there was a condition that each contesting panel must enrol 500 members (including 100 long-term and 400 annual members) to qualify for the elections.

"We have already enrolled more than 750 members and should be declared winners as there was no competition and no voting," said Chaudhry Noorul Hassan Tanveer, President of the Pakistan United Forum, which is supporting the Pakistan Forum candidates.

He told a press conference on Wednesday that it was not their fault if there were no other panels to enrol more members. He said the consulate should play its role fairly to unite the community.

Mian Saeed, the founder president of the Centre said that it was very unfortunate that some ‘miscreant' groups are trying to sabotage the election process. "It was for the first time that all the community groups amicably decided to join hands to form one panel to avoid any controversy but those who were left out created all this mess and put the consulate under pressure," he said, adding that the matter should be solved without going further into controversy because it is not good for the community.

Consulate stance

An official at the Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai told Gulf News that the consulate has taken decisions in the best interest of the community and following the rules.

"We have reopened the membership for the Pakistan Social Centre in Sharjah until February 28 and will hold elections in March only if the Centre achieved the 2,000 members target. We will declare winners unopposed if we have their required membership and if there are no contestants after February 28, otherwise we will hold voting," he made it clear and asked the contesting groups to avoid creating confusion as the consulate had announced elections following their request and it is bound to fulfil its obligations to have fair elections in the best interest of the community.