UP: Election process of Shia Central Waqf Board postponed

Lucknow: Election process of Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board, which has witnessed war of words between Waqf Minister Mohd Azam Khan and prominent cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, has been postponed. “The election process which was scheduled to start from today has been postponed. The fresh dates will be announced through a fresh notification in this regard,” a senior official told PTI. However, no reason has been cited for postponement of the board election. As per the earlier programme, nomination was scheduled to start from today and August 8 was fixed for withdrawal of nomination papers. If required, polling was scheduled to be held on August 12 and the results were to be announced the same day. [caption id=“attachment_1476595” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Azam Khan in this file photo. Ibnlive[/caption] Shia cleric Maulana Jawwad had alleged that Azam intended to place corrupt people on the important posts who in turn intended to loot the board. Clarifying his stand, the minister had said that he or Samajwadi Party had nothing to do with the board elections. He also said that elections of Shia Waqf board were being held as per the law and it does not have a single member associated with the party. “All together there are 27 members. A person, who will have 14 members, will win the seat of chairman. If a person does not have even 14 members then he should not claim himself to be a religious leader,” he had said. The UP Minister also demanded a CBI inquiry into Waqf properties. “I wrote a letter to the Chief Minister when SP came to power and I am once again writing to him in this regard,” he had said. Launching a counter attack, Jawwad yesterday demanded a CBI probe into the assets of the SP leader. “Azam got valuable properties of the Waqf sold in Rampur fort,” he had alleged at a press conference while demanding a CBI probe into the assets of Khan. PTI