A very tough contest is expected this year in the Old Ravians Union (ORU) elections to be held at Government College University (GCU), Lahore, on Sunday. Two major groups are running for the ORU elections after making alliances with smaller groups making the contest tougher for each other.
The Ravian Galaxy made an alliance with the Ravian Saga while the Ravian United and Ravian Club joined hands with each other.
Ravians Galaxy and Saga has fielded SSP Jahanzeb Nazir Khan for the top office and Dr Abdul Basit secretary-general. Syed Tayyab Rizvi is a candidate for senior vice president, Dr Tanvir Bhatti vice president male, Rabia Afzal Wahla vice president female, Jahangir Iqbal Mayo finance secretary, Syed Faizan Abbas joint secretary-male and Roheen Rafique joint secretary-female. Dr Ibrar Malik, Dr Zakria Butt, Mehmood Saeed Rawn, Amjad Watto, Syed Farhad Tirmizi, Sultan Nisar Saroya and Fakhar Hayat Khan will be candidates for executive member from 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s.
From Ravian United Club, former secretary Lahore High Court Bar Association Rana Asadullah Khan will be the candidate for the president and Asad Sultan Gondal secretary-general. Advocate Sajid Goraya is a candidate for senior vice president, Prof Dr Haleema Afridi vice president-female, Mian Sohail Anwar vice president-male, Usman Saeed joint secretary-male, Dr Kiran Khursheed joint secretary-female and Aslam Bhatti finance secretary.
Javed Khan, Prof Anwarul Haq, Altaf Sukhera, Ziaud Din Burki, Asif Ali Khan and Abdul Rehman Babar will be candidates for executive members from 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s decades.
Both groups are trying to lure voters into attractive plans.
Talking to Daily Times, Dr Abdul Basit, who is contesting for the seat of secretary-general from Ravian Galaxy-Saga, said that his group has a complete agenda meant for the betterment of Ravians community. “As the name of our group is Ravian Galaxy, we have put in a galaxy of candidates that shows vast diversification in our panel. We have doctors, lawyers, bureaucrats, police officers and other government servants in our panel,” said Abdul Basit, a doctor as well as two-time executive member of the ORU in the past. He added that his group will arrange best medical and health facilities in hospitals for the Ravians community while they will also get memberships of different clubs for the fraternity. SSP Jahanzeb Nazir Khan, candidate for the seat of president, said that their main objective is to revolutionize the ORU while working for the welfare of both the Ravians and Old Ravians. “We have a robust plan to expand the Union at districts and divisional levels through different sub-committees,” SSP Jahanzaib said.
Speaking to Daily Times, Rana Asadullah Khan, candidate for president from the Ravians United Club, said that they will generate funds for the scholarship of deserving Ravians. “We have raised the Endowment Fund and arranged many events for both the Ravians and Old Ravians when we were in ORU in the past,” Rana Asad said, who was elected the ORU Secretary in 2018.
There are more than 9,000 voters and a high turnout is expected this year due to a very vibrant campaign run by the candidates. A three-member election body has also been constituted by the vice chancellor who is also the patron-in-chief of the ORU. Retired justice Sheikh Ahmad Farooq is the chief election commissioner while deans Prof Dr Sultan Shah and Prof Dr Ahmad Adnan are members. Director of Intermediate Studies Siddique Awan will work as the secretary to the election commission.