By Arun Pratap SinghGarhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 31 Dec: The Uttaranchal Press Club elections held yesterday delivered a decisive mandate, with former President Ajay Rana elected as President after a gap of one year. From the same panel, Yogesh Semwal was elected as General Secretary. Both, Rana and Semwal secured victories with comfortable margins. In a notable outcome, senior journalist Vijay Joshi, contesting independently, won the post of Auditor, underscoring his broad acceptance within the journalist fraternity despite not being backed by any panel.
The 394-member press club witnessed an impressive turnout, with nearly 91 per cent or 360 members casting their votes. The polling was followed by a marathon counting process that stretched for 11 hours, culminating in the announcement of results at 4 a.m. today.
In the presidential contest, Ajay Rana polled 224 votes to defeat Giridhar Sharma, who managed 121 votes, securing a victory margin of 103 votes. For the post of General Secretary, Yogesh Semwal garnered 140 votes, leaving his nearest rival Anil Chandola trailing by 47 votes. For the post of Senior Vice President, Gajendra Singh Negi defeated his rivals Sanjay Kimothi and Mohammed Asad Khan. Negi secured a total of 187 votes.
For the post of Junior Vice President, Soban Singh Gusain, who, contesting for the first time, registered a massive lead of 214 votes to win against his rival Manmeet Rawat by a large win.
For the post of Joint Secretary, Shivesh Sharma defeated his rival KS Bist by just one vote. For the post of Joint Secretary (Women), Meena Negi defeated Gita Bisht. For the post of treasurer, Manish Dangwal defeated his rivals Rajesh Barthwal and Narayan Pargain by a very big margin. For the post of Auditor, Vijay Joshi defeated Raman Jaiswal and Mangesh Kumar.
In the Executive Member category, Himanshu Joshi surprised many by securing 199 votes, despite being relatively new to club politics. In the closely contested Executive Member race, Rashmi Khatri with 219 votes, Manbar Singh Rawat with 216 votes and Himanshu Joshi with 199 votes emerged as the top three. Others elected as members of Executive Committee included senior journalist Manmohan Lakhera (196), Virendra Dangwal (176), Manoj Singh Jayada, Harish Thapliyal, Om Prakash Joshi and Sulochana Payal.
At a formal function held this evening, the Club Election Officer Darshan Singh Rawat distributed certificates of election to the winners.
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