Journalist Panel Sweeps NPC Elections With Huge Majority
Muhammad Naeem:
Islamabad: In the recently National Press Club elections 2023-2024 held on 29th March 28, at National Press Club here in Islamabad, the Journalist Panel won a huge majority, securing 26 out of the 29 seats in the governing body. The remaining three seats were won by the Javed Malik Group. A total of 1943 journalists from the twin cities exercised their right to vote in the elections.
Anwar Raza of the Journalist Panel won the presidential race with 1038 votes, while Javed Malik, the candidate from the opposing Javed Malik Group, received 604 votes. Sharjeel Amjad Rao of the Dastur Journalist Panel secured 268 votes.
Khalil Ahmed Raja of the Journalist Panel was elected as the Secretary with 1035 votes, defeating Haroon Kamal Raja of the Dastur Journalist Panel, who received 505 votes, and Farukh Nawaz Bhatti of the Javed Malik Group, who secured 224 votes.
Nayyar Ali of the journalist panel won the post of finance secretary with 1471 votes, while Dr. Sajjad Azad, an independent candidate, received 169 votes.
Among the successful candidates for the four Vice Presidents’ seats were Azhar Jatoi of the Journalist Panel with 1428 votes, Ghazanfar Abbas with 1297 votes, and Nazir Ahmed Chuhan with 1269 votes. Moira Imran of the Journalist Panel won the women’s seat with 1400 votes, while Shakeela Jalil was elected with 1245 votes.
Waqar Abbasi of the Journalist Panel secured 1445 votes for the four Joint Secretary seats, followed by Muhammad Aslam Larka with 1236 votes and Talat Farooq with 1197 votes.
Candidates from the Journalist Panel won 13 of the 15 men’s seats on the governing body. Aamir Rafiq Butt, Ahmed Mansoor, Ehtesham Kayani, Syed Khalid Gardezi, Hamid Habib, Qalb-e-Ali, Zulfiqar Baig, Babar Malik, Syed Aoun Shirazi, Jafar Ali Balti, Farhat Mahmood Abbasi, Waqar Kazmi, and Raja Waseem Abbasi were among the successful candidates from the Journalist Panel. Manzoor Ahmed Sulehri and Raja Kamran Ali from the Javed Malik Group won the remaining two governing body seats.
On the two women’s seats of the governing body, Sahrish Qureshi and Rubina Shaheen of the Journalist Panel won with 1106 and 1087 votes, respectively.
The election results showed a clear victory for the Journalist Panel, with a significant majority in the governing body. The newly elected members are expected to work together to promote and uphold the values of journalism and freedom of the press in the country.
