Handa-Nagarkoti-Duggal panel wins 8 of 9 Chandigarh Press Club seats

For the post of president, rival panel’s Nalin Acharya wins by a close margin of 11 votes; independent journalist Saurabh Duggal elected senior vice-president with the biggest margin of 123 votes

Defeating Ramesh Handa of Punjab Kesari by a close margin of 11 votes, Nalin Acharya of Him Prabha has become the new president of the Chandigarh Press Club at the annual elections held on Sunday. The remaining eight positions were clinched by members of the Ramesh Handa panel.

The president, Nalin Acharya (second from left), flanked by the newly-elected members of the governing council of the Chandigarh Press Club at Sector 27 in Chandigarh on Sunday. (KESHAV SINGH/HT)

Total 294 votes were polled for Acharya as against 283 for Ramesh Handa. For the post of senior vice-president, 349 votes were polled for independent journalist Saurabh Duggal who beat Sandeep K Sharma of The Tribune by a margin of 123 votes. For the post of secretary general, Rajinder Nagarkoti of the Times of India beat Rakesh Gupta of Haryana News by a margin of 105 votes.

For the post of vice-president 1, Mona of The Tribune beat Aarti Agnihotri of Dainik Bhaskar by 65 votes. For the post of vice-president 2, Rajesh Dhall of Dainik Jagran beat Amar Singh Walia of Punjabi Tribune by 34 votes.

Dushyant S Pundir of The Tribune was elected as joint secretary 1; Karnail S Rana of Punjab Kesari was elected as joint secretary 2; Mansa Ram Rawat of Punjabi Tribune was elected as the secretary; and Umesh Sharma of News 18 was elected as the treasurer.

The club, established in 1980, has been holding elections annually since 1984 without a miss. The elections this year were held with all Covid protocols in mind.