Nomination Process For Election of Delhi Waqf Board Ends, Amanatullah Khan Set to Become Member

AAP's Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan is set to become the member of Delhi Waqf Board, the nomination process for which concluded on Monday. Except Khan, no other legislator has filed nomination for election on the post of member – MLA. The election for the post is due on August 25.

"No other MLA except Amanatullah Khan filed nomination as the process ended today. Now, the scrutiny of nomination paper will take place," said a senior government official associated with the election process said. With this, Khan is likely to return as chairman of Delhi Waqf Board for third time in a row.

Scrutiny of the nomimation paper will be conducted on Tuesday and last date of withdrawal of nomination is August 19, stated a notice. The ruling AAP has five Muslim MLAs, but the member-MLA has always been elected unopposed, officials said.

The seven-membered Waqf Board includes four elected members — an MLA, a current or former Member of Parliament, mutawalli (manager or custodian) and a Bar Council member. The remaining three are nominated members, including a Delhi government officer (which is also vacant), a social worker and a Muslim scholar, officials said.

After election of member (MLA), chairman of the Board will be elected. The members of panel elect one of them as the chairman. The post of member (MLA) fell vacant due to Assembly elections earlier this year. Khan who was chairman of the Board, ceased to be member (MLA) after announcement of Assembly polls in Delhi, the officials said.

Khan, who was re-elected from the Okhla seat once again with a huge margin, is now a frontrunner for the post of member -MLA as well as chairman of the Waqf Board, officials said. The election of new chairman of Delhi Waqf Board will take place after election of member (MLA) and nomination of an official by Delhi government to fill the vacant government official-member post, a Waqf Board officer said.

Khan previously served as chairman of the Board for around six months in 2016 before resigning in May, and again from September 2018 to March 2020. The Waqf Board is custodian of over 2,000 properties such as mosques, graveyards, schools, residential buildings, shops and land parcels across the national capital.