Nominations filed for UCPMA polls

For the post of UCPMA president, veteran industrialist Avtar Singh Bhogal will be up against four-time and incumbent president DS Chawla

Nominations for the United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA) elections were filed on Monday. The polls are scheduled for September 3.

Around 1668 members of the UCPMA will vote this year.

For the post of president, veteran industrialist Avtar Singh Bhogal will be up against four-time and incumbent president DS Chawla. Also, Prince Bansal of Chawla group will contest against another veteran industrialist, Gurcharan Singh Gemco, for the post of senior vice-president.

Nominations filed for UCPMA polls

Before filling of nominations, member of Sachdeva (United Alliance) group led by Bhogal had sent invitations to all members of the association to assemble at a local restaurant on Dugri Road. On the other hand, members of Chawla group were campaigning door-to-door to garner support and calling voters over the phone.Compared to Sachdeva group, Chawla group has given an opportunity to newcomers this time, who are relatively younger.

During the association’s annual general meeting (AGM) on August 18, Chawla was allegedly assaulted and his turban was tossed. He has accused the opposition’s Avtar Singh Bhogal, Gurmeet Singh Kular and Gurcharan Singh Gemco for orchestrating the attack.

Later, the police booked 31 people including Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisations (FICO) president and industrialist Gurmeet Singh Kular, cashier Asru Ram Gupta and members Walaity Ram, Vicky Kular, Satnam Singh Makkar and Rajinder Singh Saholi under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of the offence committed in the prosecution of common object) of Indian Penal Code. The then police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal had also marked an inquiry into the matter.

On the other hand, Bhogal, Kular and Gemco said the allegation are baseless and accused Chawla of not allowing the members, who were raising the issue of corruption in the UCPMA, to enter the venue where the AGM was taking place.