The campaign for the elections of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has been marred by Covid-19 and therefore the turnout of votes is also likely to be low this year.
The businessmen and traders were afraid of Covid-19 and most of them also preferred not to go outside for the election campaign. Earlier, it used to be special feature of LCCI elections that huge gatherings, lunches and dinners were hosted for the voters but it was not the same this year due to the COVID-19. Different traders’ bodies and associations used to hold their functions at huge marriage halls and marquees in the past but it wasn’t possible this year.
The elections for 16 seats of LCCI are scheduled to be held on 25th and 26th of this month. The final list of all the candidates contesting for the 16 seats of Executive Committee of LCCI has also been issued. There are seven seats of the Corporate Class and 8 seats of Associate Class while one seat is reserved for women entrepreneur. The polling for the Corporate Class will be held on 25th September while elections on the seats of Associate Class will be held on 26th September. PIAF-Founder Alliance and Lahore Businessman Front are two main groups who are contesting the elections.
Talking to Daily Times, President of Lahore Businessman Front Raja Hassan Akhtar also expected that the turnout will be low this year due to the looming threat of COVID-19. Sharing the vision of his group, he said that the LBF is struggling hard in the LCCI elections for last six years and hopefully they will win many seats this year. “Our main focus will be to resolve the parking issues in all the major markets of Lahore as we’ll construct parking plazas there after winning the elections,” said Raja Hassan, while speaking to Daily Times. He further added that the LBF will provide health cards to the business community for their safe future. The hanging electricity wires in the markets are also a major problem for businessmen and it will be resolved by us with the support of government functionaries, he added. He further added that LBF got huge support from traders and industrialists and they have candidates on all the seats of Associate Class while they also have two candidates on the seats of Corporate Class.
Talking to Daily Times, Sheikh Kashif Anwar, former Vice President of LCCI, who is also part of PIAF-Founder Alliance election campaign, said that they visited the Shahdara markets, Bilal Ganj and Moon Market Faisal Town on Wednesday for election campaign. “We got impressive support from all the major markets of Lahore for our group that will sweep the elections,” said Sheikh Kashif Anwar, who is also President of Friends of Business and Economic Reform. He further added that they didn’t hold large gatherings due to the COVID-19 this year and preferred to visit the markets instead. “We made different teams this year for visiting all the markets while following the SOPs of COVID-19,” he said. The SOPs will also be followed on our dinner planned for tomorrow, he said. He also agreed that the turnout might be low this year due to COVID-19.
It is worth mentioning here that only 4020 votes were cast last year out of 10,471 total votes of Associate Class. The LCCI has also issued the SOPs for the Election Day where only the voter will be allowed to enter the polling station to avoid the threat of COVID-19.