For the first time in Kashmir’s media history, an election was held for constituting apex body of Kashmir Press Club (Aiwan-e-Sahafat) on Monday.
The exercise, which started at 9 am today and ended at 5 pm,saw journalists participating with enthusiasm to elect the first ever body forKashmir Press Club (KPC).
Senior journalist Shuja-ul-Haq was elected as the KPCPresident. He won by a narrow margin of one vote defeating his nearest rivaland senior journalist Haroon Rashid Shah, who along with Zulfikar Majid was inthe fray for Presidential post.
After day-long voting held in KPC premises at Polo Viewhere, the much-awaited results were declared late in the evening in presence ofdozens of KPC members and Valley-based journalists.
While Haq received 92 votes, the runner-up Rashid got 91votes of the total 231 votes polled. With 130 votes Moazum Mohammad was elected as Vice-President of the bodywhile Ishfaq Tantray, with 102 votes, was elected its General Secretary. With 178 votes, Farooq Javed Khan was electedas Treasurer of the KPC.
Of the 11 executive members, seven were elected duringMonday’s election which includes senior photo journalist Habib Naqash who got150 votes; journalist Arshid Shah got 122 votes; senior journalist and editorShafat Kirra secured 105 votes; Greater Kashmir journalist Altaf Baba bagged 86votes, senior photo journalist Nisar Ahmad Bhat got 122 votes while asjournalist Gowhar Geelani and Auqib Javaid got 106 and 99 votes respectively, asexecutive KPC members.
The remaining four executive members shall be nominatedsoon. The KPC, which saw a lot of hustle and bustle throughout the day,witnessed members of journalism fraternity waiting anxiously for the resultstill late evening.
The voting began at 9 am and concluded at 5 pm with 92 percent votes cast by the KPC members, said a member of the election commissionoverseeing the voting process. He hailed the members for turning up to vote andelect the apex body.
The enthusiasm during the entire voting process remainedupbeat. To mention, during the hectic campaigning of the election for KPCduring last few weeks, prospective candidates have been making several promisessuch as working towards implementation of welfare measures for Kashmir-basedjournalist fraternity.
Several candidates had also put to fore that if elected theywill work for “institution of journalism in the Valley”. The electioncommission for the KPC elections had neutral observers which included twosenior Bar Association members.
Pertinently, Kashmir got first-ever Press Club in 2018 whichhas eventually become a hub of activities for Valley-based journalists.