Daily Times

LAHORE: The Progressive Panel of the Lahore Press Club has won all seats in the annual elections held here on Sunday.

As many as 1,817 journalists, belonging to print and electronic media, used their right to choose their representatives.

There were two other groups-the Journalist Group and recently established Writers Group-in struggle to impress journalists through their services for the journalist community, with special reference to the Journalist Housing Colony.

There were two candidates – Shahbaz Mian of the Progressive Panel and Javed Farooqi of Journalist Panel – in fray for seat of LPC president. Both Mian Shahbaz and Javed Farooqi have served as LPC president and vice president, respectively.

Shahbaz Mian of Bol TV was elected the LPC president by bagging 1,097 votes against his opponent Javed Farooqi of Capital TV, who bagged just received 694 votes while 20 votes were cancelled over different reasons.

There were three candidates in run for LPC secretary. Progressive Panel’s candidate Abdul Majeed Sajid succeeded, who got 884 votes against Journalist Panel’s Zulfiqar Mehtu who received total 853 votes. Third candidate Abdur Rauf Khan of Writers Panel just got succeeded to bag 55 votes.

Meanwhile, Progressive Panel’s Sheraz Hasnat stood victorious as LPC treasurer. He bagged 978 votes against his major opponent Yousaf Abbasi of the Journalist Panel, who only bagged 670 votes. On the same seat, third candidate Syed Babar Shah (photographer) of Writers Group bagged 108 votes.

One woman, Nasira Attique of the Journalist Panel participated in the elections but lost the seat by 201 votes. She received just 736 votes against the winner of Progressive Panel’s candidate Zahid Gogi who got 937 votes. Third candidate of Writers Panel Al-Sultan Shamsul Haq Qazafi received 72 votes.

For the slot of joint secretary, Progressive Panel’s candidate Ehsan Shaukat won the seat by a lead of 536 votes in the elections. He bagged total 1,038 votes against Journalist Panel’s candidate Rana Shahzad who just bagged total 502 votes.

Interestingly, fourth candidate Mian Daud, who withdrew his name from running the election, got 80 ballot papers stamped in support of him, while Writers’ Group candidate Sher Afzal Butt got 146 votes.

All eight seats of LPC Governing Body were also won by the Progressive Panel. However, the Journalist Panel succeeded to win other two seats.

According to details, Progressive Panel’s Qasim Raza got 652 votes, Muhammad Shahnawaz Rana 629 votes, Ismaeel Jakharr 610 votes, Rizwan Khalid 605 votes, Noman Wahab 596 votes and Nasir Ghani 652 votes on different seats of the governing body. Two candidates of the Journalist Panel Salman Qureshi bagged 610 votes and Salik Nawaz got 602 votes on two seats of the governing body.