Lahore:

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday was re-elected as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) President of a four-year period, while Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was re-elected president of the Pakistani Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).

PPP held polls within the central secretariat in the federal capital.

Humayun Khan was elected Party Secretary General for four years, while Nadeem Afzal Gondal (Chan) as information secretary during the same period.

Similarly, AMNA Piracha was elected financial secretary for four years. Office-Bearers of PPP was elected in accordance with the party’s constitution.

From who won and when the election took place, how the news was reported in the media – almost all party leaders in Punjab, that Express Pakinomist spoke to largely unaware of the intra party.

According to the official announcement, the election was held in Islamabad. However, several senior party leaders – at least from Punjab – were completely unaware of the development. Those who realized said they had learned about it through social media. None of the leaders could say who the candidates were or whether the winners had been subjected to any resistance or were elected without being received. Almost everyone expressed disappointment at not even being informed about the election date.

Nadeem Afzal Chan, who himself was among the winners, told The Express Pakinomist that he had submitted his nomination papers. But when asked how he found out the election results, he admitted he was not fully aware of it. When asked whether the election was disputed or whether all candidates were elected unliked, he said he did not have this information. “I have to visit the party office to find out what actually happened,” he noted. He added that election rolls had been prepared, including district lists and assigned voter numbers.

A senior party leader from Punjab, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was not aware of both the intra-party elections and their results that only learned about them during the phone call. He recalled that some time ago the media had reported on the formation of an election commission with three members and that the party’s chairman had corrected elections within five weeks. However, any timeline or schedule was never conveyed to them, he said. While the chairman, who was re -elected several times, was not unusual, he added, “the absence of appropriate elections to other key positions marked a new low for PPP”.

He claimed that newly elected information secretary Nadeem Afzal Chan had done everything to become president of Central Punjab, but PPPP president Asif Ali Zardari vetoed this recommendation from the party’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. The leader explained that Zardari’s decision was based on Chan’s “opportunistic behavior”, especially his move to PTI when PPP was in a difficult position. Despite this, the party’s chairman chose to appoint Chan as information secretary.

He also noted that the President seemed to honor those who had changed allegiance, as shown in his address in Lahore Governor House, where individuals such as Manzoor Chaudary, Aitezaz Ahsan and Nadeem Afzal Chan were invited to sit on stage with the chairman, while loyal party members and senior leaders were adopted among the workers.