LAHORE - The PIAF-Founders Alliance Monday swept the first phase of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s election by winning all the 7 seats of LCCI Corporate Class for year 2018-19 against Lahore Businessmen Front.

Total 1423 votes were polled out of 3114 while 15 votes were rejected due to technical reasons. PIAF-Founders Alliance got 822 panel votes while the Businessmen Front got 302 panel votes. The PIAF-Founders Alliance candidates Dr Muhammad Arshad got 976 votes, Almas Hyder 1023, Naveedullah Khan 972, Aqib Asif 979, Khalid Usman 941, Waqar Ahmed 966 and Khawaja Shahzad Nasir got 962 votes while Businessmen Front candidates Asif Khan got 427, Tahir Malik 421, Khalid Naeem 409, Atif Amin 433, Muhammad Hussain 401, Rashid Hameed Mehr got 391 votes and Shahzad Rasheed Anjum got 356 votes.

Mian Muzaffar Ali, Sohail Lashari and Haroon Shafiq Chaudhry were the Elections Commissioners. In the second phase, polling for 8 seat of Associate Class will be held on September 25 (today) and 9783 voters will use their voting rights. The final results will be announced on September 29 in scheduled Annual General Meeting.

The United Business Group (UBG), the ruling group of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry for the last four consecutive years, felicitated the all winning candidates of the LCCI on seats of Corporate Class.

While addressing a meeting, UBG chairman Iftikhar Ali Malik hoped that the Founder-PIAF alliance will sweep the entire election as the alliance is enjoying the full support and confidence of the business community. He said the alliance has been winning the LCCI elections for the last 17 years and always upheld the glory of safeguarding the interests of the business community at national and provincial levels, adding that he never compromised in his life over the welfare of the traders and highlighted their problems.

He said that founders’ candidates backed by the UBG are also winning elections unopposed in other regional chambers across the country as no one from the opposition camp have come forward to contest UBG backed candidates. LCCI former president and Founders leader Abdul Basit pledged to continue to raise voice for the solution of the problems being faced by the business community. He said that the alliance had fielded sector specialists as their candidates for the LCCI executive committee with the sole objective to forward solid proposals to the government for economic progress and prosperity. He hoped the business community would repose confidence in PIAF-Founders Alliance in Associate Class also in the larger interests of the economy of the country.

Lahore Businessmen Front Corporate Class candidates Rashid Hameed Mehr, while talking to The Nation, observed that this was the first time that a group, which is just four years old, challenged the ruling alliance and made its entry. “I thank all my friends and well wishers for their support and personally secured 391 votes. We will come back next year same time and sweep the EC elections. I am thankful for Lahore Businessmen Forum for entrusting me and providing me this platform.

Rashid Mehr, who is the CEO of TUV Austria, said business community trusts me and my company is well known in the industry. “My company’s services have helped the industry to compete regionally and internationally after we certified them various international standards.”

He was hopeful that his group will sweep the Associate class elections being held on Tuesday (today).