Elections for PCB chairman to be held on June 27

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Thursday that the elections for the top post would be held next week — on June 27.

In a statement, the PCB said that the election for the chairman’s post would be held at its headquarters in Lahore.

The election schedule will be issued after receiving nominations from the departments and service organisations. The commission’s office has also written to the departments and service organisations to nominate their representatives.

“The election of the PCB Chair will be held in a fair and transparent manner whilst adopting due process and ensuring completion of all legal formalities,” acting chairman and Election Commissioner Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana was quoted by the PCB.

The PCB in the initial statement had announced that the polls will be held on June 28 but changed the date to June 27 after the government announced a public holiday on Wednesday.

The date for the elections was announced after the sport’s governing body in Pakistan shared that the Rana had formed the PCB’s Board of Governors after the completion of the Management Committee’s dissolution. The board was formed “in accordance with Para 10 of the PCB Constitution 2014” and in line with a letter sent by the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) regarding the management committee.

The board members include PCB Patron Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's nominees Muhammad Zaka Ashraf and Mustafa Ramday, National Bank of Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), president Larkana Region, president Dera Murad Jamali Region, president Bahawalpur Region and president Hyderabad Region.

The PCB chairman's post was a bone of contention between the ruling coalition partners Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The PPP wants former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf to return to the post, while the PML-N wanted now defunct Management Committee Chairman Najam Sethi to continue his job at the PCB.

PPP's stance on the matter is that since its minister heads the Inter-Provincial Coordination Division and PCB is related to the ministry, its chairman should be appointed by the party.

However, the path has now been cleared for PPP's nominee Ashraf to return as PCB chairman as Sethi pulled out of the race.

Earlier this week, Sethi announced he was not running for the post as he did not want to be a "bone of contention" between the partners in the coalition government.

Citing the atmosphere of uncertainty and instability as inconducive for the board, he said he had decided to step aside from the race for the PCB's chairmanship.

"I don’t want to be a bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif," he tweeted on Tuesday.