Hyderabad: Govt sets ball rolling for Wakf Board polls

Hyderabad: Bringing down the curtains over suspense on the Wakf Board's elections, the State government has set the ball rolling for conducting elections for Telangana State Wakf Board.

Following the notification for the State Wakf Board on January 28, the officials responsible for conducting elections sped up the process.

As per the Government Order (GO), the entire process should be completed within a month. Hyderabad Collector, L Sharman will be the Election Officer who will be assisted by Wakf Officials.

Officials informed that following the issue of GO, the process has been taken forward and letters were sent to different departments to identify the number of eligible candidates for taking part in elections. According to Wakf Election officer, the election notification was released on January 28. List of persons eligible for this should be finalised before taking forward the process.

Election Officer said, "We have asked Bar Council, State Legislature and other concerned departments to provide details. Even the list for Mutawallis-Managing Committees of mosques should remain available. After the list arrives, we shall take forward the process, which may take at least a week's time."

The board will have 6 elected and 5 nominated members. Elected members will be from categories of MP, MLC, MLA, Bar Council, Mutawalli and Managing Committee.

The existing Board's term ends on February 23. The five elected members of the body were Asaduddin Owaisi, MP, Mohammed Saleem, MLC who is the current chairman, Mohammed Moazam Khan, MLA, M Zakeer Hussain Javid, Member of Bar Council, Mirza Anwar Baig, Managing Committee (Mosques) and Syed Akbar Nizamuddin Hussaini, Mutawalli. The State government had nominated members under various categories. Malik Mohtasim Khan (Eminent Muslim), Dr Syed Nissar Hussain Hyder Agha (Shia Scholar), Advocate Waheed Ahmed (Sunni Scholar), Tafseer Iqbal-IPS (Government Nominee) and Dr Sofia Begum (woman member).