Abdul Azeez elected as chairman of AP Waqf board

Vijayawada: After several twists and turns, senior TDP leader Abdul Azeez has been elected as the chairman of the AP Waqf board on Tuesday. Azeez was the former mayor of Nellore city. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and chief minister Chandrababu Naidu picked Azeez for the top post a few days ago. However, the election was delayed due to pending court cases. Interestingly, minorities welfare department rushed to conduct the election even before the court pronounced its verdict. The state govt decided to conduct the election after the high court reserved the matter for judgment on Monday and summoned all the nominated and elected members of the board to reach Waqf board office by Tuesday. Prakasam district collector and woman member in the board, Thameem Ansariya, acted as returning officer of the election held in Vijayawada. The state govt nominated Syed Dawood Basha Baquavi and Mohammed Ismail Baig under the Sunni scholar quota, IAS officer Thameem Ansariya and advocate Dr Afiya under the women's quota, Mukarram Hussain under Shia scholars' quota, Mohammed Naseer Ahmed from legislators' quota apart from Shaik Akram under the Waqf board. YSRCP MLC Mohammed Ruhulla and Shaik Khaja were elected as members of the board. Some of the members nominated by the previous YSRCP govt were replaced with new members after the NDA came to power. Curiously, the board nominated by YSRCP could not elect the chairperson due to pending court cases.
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