Journalist Panel swept annual elections of National Press Club (NPC) Islamabad, winning all the prime positions of the body on Saturday.

Chairman Election Committee, Asim Qadeer Rana announced the results.

Anwar Raza was elected president as he bagged 1017 votes, outshining his rival Shakeel Qarar of Azad Journalist Panel by a huge margin of 406 votes.

There was a neck to neck contest between Journalist Panel’s Khalil Ahmed Raja and Azad Journalist Panel’s Dr Sadia Kamal for the key post of Secretary NPC. However, Raja got 823 votes to edge ahead of his opponent by 52 votes.

There were 13 candidates in the run for three seats of vice presidents but Journalists Panel’s Azhar Jatoi with 980 votes, A Nazir Charan with 839 votes and Ghazanfar Abbas with 825 finished at the top to emerge victorious. Jatoi, who remained at the top was declared senior vice president.

Journalist Panel’s Myra Imran was elected vice president on women’s seat as she bagged 939 votes to outsmart her main opponent Irfana Yasir, who got 467 votes.
Journalist Panel’s Nayyer Ali was elected on the coveted seat of Secretary Finance as she took 740 votes to see off her main challenger Usman Khan of Azad Journalist Panel’s, who got 640 votes.
For the three joint secretary slots, there were 12 candidates in the run. However, Journalist Panel’s Muhammad Aslam Lurka, Waqar Abbasi and Tallat Farooq clinched these prime seats, getting 882, 805 and 791 votes, respectively.
On the joint secretary women seat, Shakeela Jalil was elected as she bagged 949 votes to edge pass her main rival Mahwish Fakhar, who got 493 votes.
Of over 2850 eligible voters at the club, 1963 turned up to vote on the election day on Friday.
After announcement of the results, the newly-elected office-bearers congratulated and thanked their voters for their votes and support to win the polls by a thumping margin. They assured them to live up to the expectations by working for their welfare and striving for their rights.