Chahal wins close contest,is DBA president

The polling started at 9.30 am and ended at 5.30 pm. The results for the key posts were announced at 10 pm with the victorious group breaking into celebrations.

The post of vice-president was secured by Preet Kaman Singh Gill with 487 votes in his kitty,while his opponents Sunil Narang and Manish Joshi polled 451 and 224 votes,respectively.

Ranjan Lohan became the secretary of the DBA as he attracted 602 votes while Baljit Singh found 494 voters in his favour.

The post of treasurer was bagged by Harmail Kesari who got 51 votes,with Ashish Bakshi and Shiv Murti Yadav polling 478 and 136 votes,respectively.

The district courts complex was abuzz since morning when the polling started at 9.30 am.

Supporters of the candidates camped outside the polling booths and handed over pamphlets to voters who lining up to cast their ballots.

A few tense moments were reported during the elections,but no untoward incident occurred. Returning officer Harsh Tandon said the election was a smooth affair. In a setback to Jagmeet Saini,who was contesting the elections for the executive committee,he was shocked to see his name missing from the ballot papers around 4.30 pm,a little before the polling closed.

“I was told that my name was there in the ballot papers used till 4 pm but when one of my supporters went to cast his vote,he found that my name was not there. It came as shock to me,” Saini said.

On the issue,Tandon said the error had come to light and a decision would be taken on Saturday when the names of candidates elected to the executive committee will be announced.

‘Not a right trend’

Virinder Issar,who has secured the post of DBA president six times,the highest so far,said the elections have been getting “undignified” as the candidates indulged in mud-slinging to garner votes. “This is not a right trend. In our times,we never printed any campaigning material or pasted banners on the walls to woo voters. The voters cast their mandate since they knew a particular personality and their work,” he said. 

Issar added that the standards have fallen low as the election has not only become diluted with unfair means but the polls have reduced into a game of money and power. “We held a party after the elections. However,in the recent polls,parties are held numerous times before the elections to attract voters,” he said.

After holding the post of president five times earlier,Nanda’s defeat this time around marks a dip in his popularity in comparison to last year when he had stepped down in favour of advocate Mukesh Mittal who was elected unanimously.

HC Bar Association elections

ADVOCATE Gurinder Singh Attariwala defeated Advocate Sarwan Gupta with a thumping margin of 495 votes for the post of president of Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association. A total of 2,183 votes were cast.

While a total of 736 votes were cast to Advocate Sarwan Gupta,Gurinder Singh Attariwala bagged 1231 votes.

For the post of vice-president,Advocate N K Banka remained victorious. He bagged 1,109 votes against 450 votes cast to his competitor Advocate Praveen Kataria. Advocate Priya Khurana,who got 1,492 votes defeated her competitor Advocate Vikas Malik for the post of joint secretary,Malik bagged 662 votes.

On the other hand,Advocate P S Hundal won with a big margin by defeating Advocate Jitender Singh Chahal for the post of secretary of the Bar.

Hundal got 1,303 votes as against 653 votes bagged by Chahal.

Advocate Ankur Sharma bagged 842 votes and defeated Advocate Satish Saini for the post of treasurer. Saini had got 732 votes.

Attariwala has been voted as the president of the association for the first time.

Talking to Newsline,Attariwala,who has served as vice-president between 2007-08 and an executive member between 1995-96 said he will work towards amelioration of the relationship between Bar and Bench.

Attariwala,who is an Additional Advocate General of Punjab said,“My focus will be towards betterment of young lawyers,their housing problems. I will also like to make a placement cell which will ensure better job prospects for the budding lawyers. Complete computerisation and upgrade of the Bar library and introduction of E-sampark centre will be in my list.”