New Leadership : Progressives sweeps Press Club polls

LAHORE: The Progressive Panel (PP) defeated the Journalists Panel (JP) with a thumping margin in the Lahore Press Club elections according to results announced on Monday. Muhammad Shehbaz Mian of the PP was elected president. He polled 981 votes against Arshad Ansari of the JP’s 834 votes. Abdul Majeed Sajid was elected vice president. He got 928 votes against Naeem Hanif’s 806 votes. Shadab Riaz was elected secretary, Zaheer Ahmed Babar finance secretary and Zahid Gogi joint secretary according to the results announced on Monday. Rana Shehzad, Imran Shaikh, Mohsin Ali, Azhar Maqbool, Jawad Rizvi, Ismaeel Jakhar, Furqan Elahi and Sher Afzal Butt were elected to the governing body. Speaking to the media after the announcement, president-elect Shehbaz Mian announced a bonus equivalent to a month’s salary for all LPC employees. On December 30, the polling was disrupted and then cancelled after allegations of rigging were raised by candidates from both panels against each other.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2016.