Democrats clean sweep Karachi Press club elections

• The Democrats Panel’s Fazil Jamili, a journalist associated with the Jang-Geo Media Group, has been elected president
  
• Business Recorder reporter Rizwan Bhatti is elected as the general-secretary of the press club.
  
• The polling had begun at 9:00am and continued until six in the evening.
  

The Democrats panel made a clean sweep in the annual elections of the Karachi Press Club for the year 2020, as none of the candidates of the rival United Panel has managed to become a part of the governing body for the 2021 session, The News reported on Sunday.

The polling began at 9:00am and continued until six in the evening. Academic and senior journalist Tauseef Ahmed Khan presided over as the chief election commissioner.

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The voter turnout was unusually large and had not been expected because of the coronavirus pandemic. Out of the total 1,495 eligible voters of the KPC, 1,185 participated in the balloting. 

The Democrats Panel’s Fazil Jamili, a journalist associated with the Jang-Geo Media Group, has been elected president and Business Recorder reporter Rizwan Bhatti general secretary of the press club.

As per details, Jamili was elected president by bagging 607 votes against the United Panel’s Habib Khan Ghori, a veteran journalist associated with Dawn for several decades, with a margin of 47 votes. 

The Democrats Panel’s Bhatti secured 844 votes to win the post of KPC general secretary, defeating the United Panel’s Qasim Khan who managed to collect 308 votes.

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The remaining office-bearers of the press club who were elected in the polls are vice president Shazia Hasan of Dawn, Joint Secretary Saqib Sagheer of Jang, and Waheed Rajpar of 92 News. All of them belong to the Democrats Panel.

Following the announcement of the results, the winning office-bearers congratulated and thanked voters for their support.

 The Democrats' panel has been winning the press club’s elections for over a decade now, mostly with a thumping margin.