Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :
A total of eight members are elected to the Sunni Waqf based on a system of quota from different sections.
TWO CANDIDATES who had filed nomination for election to the membership of the Sunni Waqf Board withdrew their papers on Friday, paving the way for eight members to be elected unopposed and without an election. Only Sunni Muslims are allowed to contest polls for the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board and the election was scheduled to be held on March 7, Sunday.
A total of eight members are elected to the Sunni Waqf based on a system of quota from different sections. Of the eight members, two are selected from mutawalli (caretaker) quota, two from MP quota, two from MLA/MLC quota and two from bar council quota.
A total of 10 candidates had filed their nomination on Thursday. Two of them withdrew their papers on Friday: Samajwadi Party MLC from Amroha Parwez Ali and SP MLA from Sambhal Iqbal Mehmood. They had filed their papers under the MLA/MLC quota.
“The two withdrew their nomination on Friday. Now, no election will be needed as there are eight candidates and the same number of seats,” said Election Officer and special secretary of UP Minority Welfare and Waqf Department, Shiwa Kant Dwivedi.
About the election of chairman of the board, he said, “Once the notification for election of these members is done, a date will be decided when the eight members can elect a chairman.”
The members who will be elected as board members are former chairman Zufar Ahmad Farooqui, Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) Trust member Adnan Farrukh. The two had filed their nomination under the mutawalli quota which permits caretakers of Waqf properties with an annual income of Rs 1 lakh or more to file for getting elected as a member of the Board.
The two candidates who filed under the MP quota are Samajwadi Party MP from Moradabad S T Hasan, and BSP MP from Amroha Kunwar Danish Ali. Under the MLA/MLC quota, SP MLA from Isauli (Sultanpur) Abrar Ahmad and SP MLA from Gopalpur (Azamgarh) Nafees Ahmad.
Under the Bar Council quota, lawyers Imran Mabood and Abdul Razzaq had filed their nominations and will be elected as members.
On January 25, the Allahabad High Court had set aside the state government’s order extending the term of the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board. The court appointed the Principal Secretary of Minority Welfare and Waqf the board’s administrator and the official was told to ensure that polls are held, and hand over charge to an elected board by February 28.
The last Board was appointed as per the Waqf Act of 1995 on April 1, 2015, for a five-year term. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic , the state government extended its term by six months, and on September 30 last year, extended it by six more months.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Lucknow / by Express News Service, Lucknow / March 06th, 2021