Wakf Board election rules changed

By J.S. Ifthekhar

HYDERABAD, MAY 26. Just a day before the nominations to the Wakf Board are to begin, the State Government has amended the rules governing the conduct of elections, causing consternation among the Muslim community. A GO amending the A.P. State Wakf Board (Conduct of Election) Rules, 1996, was issued on Saturday making a drastic change in the procedure adopted for counting of votes.

As per the amended rules the counting of votes will be in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. The process of counting will also be on par with the process envisaged under the regulations made by the Speaker of the Assembly for election of members to the committees. In case more than one candidate secures equal number of votes, the results will be decided by drawl of lots.

According to informed sources, the existing election rules are arbitrary, illogical and fraught with irregularities as they take into account the maximum number of first and second preference votes polled by a candidate. In other words it means that even if a candidate who does not get a single first preference vote but gets the highest number of second preference votes, can be declared elected to the second vacancy.

The sudden move of the Government to amend the election rules is believed to have been necessitated by a writ petition filed before the Vacation Court seeking cancellation of the election process in view of the serious drawbacks in the existing system. The writ petition was filed by Prof. Abdur Rahim and four others.

As per section 14 of Wakf Act, 1995, the 9-member Wakf Board is to be constituted with five members under the elected category and four under the nominated category. This time round the quota of MLAs under the elected catagory is reduced from two to one while that of the Mutawallis raised from one to two.

Meanwhile the voter list of Muthawallis and Managing Committees published by the Wakf Board on May 16 has raised the hackles of many as the term of most of the managing committee presidents listed is on the verge of expiry. The term of some of the committee presidents is ending even before June 4, the scheduled date of election. For instance Mr. Abdul Jabbar, president, Managing Committee of Jamia Masjid, Moazampura and Mr. S. A. Kareem Parvez, president, managing committee of Masjid-e-Ahmed Badepah, First Lancer, figure in the voters list. But their terms are ending on May 30 and June 2. There are several others whose terms are ending in the next few months. Can managing committee presidents whose term is ending in the near future elect the Wakf Board which has a five-year term?

Interestingly, the Wakf Board has included 38 managing committees in the voter list for the first time. In the previous election held in 1996, managing committees were not part of the voter list. Only the approved Mutawallis and Trusts, numbering 43, were allowed to vote. This time round the voter list has swelled to 89. "We have listed only such wakf institutions whose annual income is Rs. 1 lakh and above", says Syed Yousuf Ali, chairman, Wakf Board.

Shockingly, some of the persons whose names figure in the voter list are stated to be known defaulters in respect of payment of the mandatory wakf fund while some are known to be involved in illegal sale of prime wakf property. Can the election held with such defaulting Muthawallis and ineligible managing committee presidents on the voters list be fair?

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