Nalin Acharya of Him Prabha has been elected the president of the Chandigarh Press Club for the 2023-24 session. His panel has won five posts while the rivals, the Rawat panel, won four seats out of the total nine posts.
It may be noted that established in 1980, the Chandigarh Press Club has been holding elections annually since 1984 without a miss. A total of 588 votes were polled on March 31, 2024, 40 more than last year.
Nalin Acharya secured 307 votes, defeating Barinder S Rawat of Dainik Jagran by 33 votes. Seven votes were declared invalid.
While Rawat lost the president’s post, his group was able to secure the positions of senior vice president, secretary general, joint secretary 1, and treasurer. Ramesh Handa of Punjab Kesari clinched the senior vice-president’s post, defeating his rival Jai Singh Chibber by 38 votes.
For the secretary general’s position, Umesh Sharma of News 18 got 298 votes against Jagtar Singh Bhullar of ABC Punjabi News who secured 280 votes. The winning margin was just 18 votes.
Both the posts of vice-president were secured by the Nalin Acharya panel. Amanpreet Kaur of Tv9 Bharatvarsh defeated independent journalist Arshdeep Arshi by just nine votes for the post of vice-president 1. Deepender Thakur of Punjab Kesari beat Karnail S Rana of Jag Bani for the post of vice president 2 by just two votes.
From the Nalin Acharya Group, Ajay Jalandhari of Swadesh News was elected as secretary by 57 votes. Ankush Mahajan of News Nation was elected as joint secretary 2 by 36 votes.
For joint secretary-I, Tarun Bhajni of Financial World narrowly lost by 10 votes to Amarpreet Singh of Punjabi Tribune. Dushyant S Pundir of The Tribune was elected treasurer by 11 votes. It is worth mentioning that it was almost a turnaround for the Nalin Acharya Panel which had lagged much behind the rival camp last year as far as the Panel votes are concerned because this year it not only covered the gap but also went past the rivals.
The newly elected President of Chandigarh Press Club Nalin Acharya said that his priority upon taking charge would be “to facilitate health facilities for press club members in tricity hospitals at CGHS rates, arranging picnics for club members and their families, organizing social media workshops, restarting publication of club magazine, to initiate awards for best story, best photo, best video, best headline, a creche for children of members, effective WIFI in club premises, e-charging for electric vehicles, 50 per cent fee waiver for members above 70, reservation of tables for senior members and to improve quality of food served”. He sought the cooperation of all elected office bearers and Club members to take Chandigarh Press Club to new heights to restore its pristine glory.
