All set for polls at Rajindra Gymkhana, Mahindra Club

Patiala, December 29

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Elections to 12 posts, including president and vice-president, will be held tomorrow at the Rajindra Gymkhana and Mahindra Club. In all, 12 candidates each from two groups — the United Progressive Group and the Gymkhana Goodwill Group — will contest the election. There are five posts of office-bearer and seven for executive members. While the total number of members are 2,800.

A day before the elections, extensive activity was witnessed in both the camps. From dinner diplomacy to social media campaigns, both sides left no stone unturned, to persuade voters.

Both the groups were seen getting bouquet photo-opportunities with influential persons and sharing it on social media. The leaders and bureaucrats urged voters to vote and ensure the victory of their preferred candidate. While scathing verbal attacks were also made by candidates of opposing sides.

The ruling United Progressive Group led by Deepak Kampani is up against Sukhdip Singh Boparai of Gymkhana Goodwill Group for the post of president.

Other contestants from the progressive group comprise MM Syal (for the post of vice-president), Harpreet Sandhu (for honorary secretary), Dr Sanjay Bansal (for joint secretary) and AP Garg (for treasurer). A total of seven members are contesting for the posts of executive member.

The goodwill group has fielded Dr Neeraj Goyal for vice-president, Dr Sudhir Verma for the post of secretary, Rahul Mehta for joint secretary and Mohit Dhody for the post of treasurer.

The annual general meeting would be held on the premises at 10.30 am. “This will be followed by the election, which will continue till 7 pm,” they said. The counting of votes will be done on December 31 and the result will be declared on the same day.

Harpreet Sandhu, who is contesting for honorary secretary from the progressive group, said, “During their term the bank deposit and FDRs reached Rs 5.05-cr, from Rs 3.9-cr in 2022. While the expense incurred in 2022 was Rs 3.20-cr (during the tenure of Sudhir Verma), it was only Rs 2.46-cr this year (during the tenure of Kampani). The club’s income went up by Rs 10 lakh. Another remarkable achievement of the present management is the installation of two fully operational passenger lifts.”

While the Gymkhana Goodwill Group blamed the opponents of wasteful expenditure, and mismanagement.