LHC declares PFF elections null and void [Dawn]

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday declared the elections of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) held in Changla Gali, Abbottabad on June 30 as null and void while also issuing contempt notices to Faisal Saleh Hayat and Col Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi.

The elections in Changla Gali were held despite the court issuing a stay order against the holding of elections and saw Hayat and Lodhi elected president and secretary of the PFF respectively. The LHC has now fixed the date for next hearing as Sept 18.

The LHC also ordered that Assistant Advocate-General as prosecutor will prosecute the court in this case. The LHC will also appoint an administrator who will conduct the PFF elections within four months.

Meanwhile, according to a news release issued by Arshad Khan Lodhi — who is the petitioner in this case — the administrator will also look into the affairs of previous management to point out any corruption or illegality.

The administrator will hold his office in the PFF headquarters which is currently in control of the PFF splinter group led by Arshad.

Arshad’s group seized control of the PFF House through an Extraordinary meeting of the PFF Congress held in Islamabad in June in which Hayat was suspended as president and the services of Lodhi were terminated.

Later, both factions of the PFF announced elections on June 30 and while Hayat decided to hold the polls in Changla Gali, Arshad’s group were due to hold them in Lahore. However, the LHC stopped both groups from holding elections till its decision in a case pending with it regarding the elections of the Punjab Football Association (PFA), which has become the bone of contention in the entire PFF dispute.

Hayat, however, went on with the elections claiming he did not receive any written orders from the court. But the LHC, in Thursday’s hearing, said Hayat’s lawyer was present when he ordered both the groups not to hold the elections.