After much wait and anticipation, the general election of the Guwahati Press Club (GPC) was finally conducted. The election on 12th March, 2020 took place after 17 years bringing an end to the regime of for secretary Nava Thakuria.
End of Nava Thakuria’s tenure
Former general secretary of GPC, Nava Thakuria had approached the court to stall the general elections. He filed the case before the Guwahati Munsif Court against the interim committee, the election committee and the presiding officer, alleging that the voters’ list of the club is illegal and that the journalists of the electronic media cannot be general members of the GPC, as per the constitution of the club.
The elections have brought to end the controversial tenure of Thakuria. It has to be mentioned that Thakuria was caught red-handed as he tried to set ablaze important club documents in the premises of the club on the night of 1st March.
Reportedly, as Thakuria had to hand over all the documents from his tenure to the newly formed committee, he tried to burn down the records. The finance committee, set up to take stock of the records of the previous years, have found out that under Thakuria, the club did not even have a bank account for the last one and a half decades. Further, he could not provide any record of the various cash and kind gifts presented to the club by various well wishers and organisations over the years, although it has been clearly mentioned in the constitution that any transaction above Rs 100 would have to be done through a bank account. Thakuria has also not replied to any of the notices issued by the finance committee. The journalist fraternity has also expressed shock that after so much illegal and irregular transactions Nava Thakuria had moved court against the general elections.
Works that remained undone in the last 17 years
It has to be mentioned that over the years many disputes had taken place over the land on which the club is situated. Due to the negligence of the former committee, the present club house is standing on a plot of land given by the Directorate of Archaeological Survey. The land is not the club’s own. Allegedly, the committee did not express interest even after former chief minister Tarun Gogoi had agreed to provide land for permanent construction of a club house. Further, the present club does not have the necessary facilities in spite of its metropolitan location.
The Guwahati Press Club does not have any dedicated room for women, proper toilets, cultural space, proper canteen, free WiFi and a proper library, unlike other press clubs across the country. Also the journalists were never provided with health insurance as required.
The New Committee
223 journalists and various other workers associated with the press under former secretary Sanjib Phukan formed a new working committee after rendering the previous committee defunct. They further decided to conduct the general election for the club after these 17 years.
An ad hoc committee was set up until the elections were conducted. Veneran Journalist PJ Baruah was appointed as the convener of the committee. The other members included Sanjib Phukan, Pranjit Saikia, Susanta Talukdar and Samim Sultana Ahmed.
The committee took up 15 important issues. It decided to set up another three-member committee to take stock of the workings of the press club for the last 17 years. The three-member committee comprised Mrinal Talukdar, Susanta Talukdar and Paragmoni Aditya. This committee would be submitting its report within a month.
Also, another committee was constituted to conduct the general elections. Senior journalist Ajit officer was the presiding officer of this said committee alongside other members like Sunil Bora, Galibur Rahman, Anupam Nath and Durba Ghosh.
Meanwhile, in another meeting presided over by PJ Baruah, the committee amended certain clauses of the constitution. As per the amendments done, there would be 10 posts for the general working of the Guwahati Press Club unlike the earlier five posts. Further two additional women reserved posts have been introduced for the position of vice president and assistant general secretary. The new working committee would constitute 13 members. Until the new working committee takes office, all work of the club would be managed by the convener, Susanta Talukdar.
Amongst the people present in the meeting were veteran journalist Dhirendra Nath Chakraborty, renowned editor Prasanta Jyoti Baruah, Munin Bayan, Pranjit Saikia, Nitumoni Saikia, Pranay Bordoloi, Samim Sultana Ahmed, Khagen Kalita, Paragmoni Aditya, senior journalist Bedabrat Borah, Manoram Gogoi, Mrinal Talukdar, Prabin Kalita, Ajit Patowary, Manoj Kumar Nath, Bhaben Dutta, Nayan Pratim Kumar, Partha Dev Goswami, Nandan Pratim Sarma Bordoloi, Purba Jyoti Chutia, Hemanta Majumder, Gunajit Bhatacharjee, Anupam Nath, Utpal Baruah, Reb Bora, Bikash Singh, PP Singh, Dhurba Jyoti Pathak, Param Pakash Gogoi, Mintu Saikia, Mrinal Borah, Ranjit Bhatacharjee, Ranen Goswami, Jitendra Kumar Choudhury, Pranjit Deka, Lakhya Gohain, Ratna Bharali Talukdar, Tridip lahkar, Susmita Goswami, Palash Khaund, Manik Ray, Mamta Mishra, Sunil Bora, Galibur Rahman and others.
A new beginning
Candidates from various media houses contested for the various posts having mounted good campaigns. Every news media campaigned separately and rigorously. And the campaigns have not been limited to just visiting the different houses but candidates had also put up banners and hoardings.
As the elections were being held after a long break, many new candidates were not known to the voters. As such the candidates not only campaigned offline but also across various social media platforms.
Apart from 36 candidates, the total number of voters was 816. Like every other election, every candidate also took up various causes as their election agenda and promised to deliver the same.
The winners
The results were announced on 13th March.
Manoj Kumar has been elected President of GPC with a total of 449 votes. Madhov Goswami, the other Presidential candidate polled 320 votes.
Dhani Ram Kalita became the Vice President of GPC, without any opposing contestant. He secured 331 votes.
For the post of Vice President (Reserved for women), Mousumi Sarma Baruah won with a total of 301 votes. Arunima Kalita emerged in the second position with 277 votes.
Sanjoy Ray was elected as the General Secretary with 404 votes, against Partha Dev Goswami who secured 270 votes.
A tough competition was seen for the post of Assistant General Secretary between Manindra Kumar Deka and Prasanta Kumar Baruah and Deka won with a 2 vote margin. While Deka got a total of 292 votes, Baruah was left second with 290 votes.
Meanwhile, Assistant General Secretary (Reserved for women) position has been won by Manisha Kalita with 304 votes.
Raju Baruah will be the next Organising Secretary with 209 votes, and Nayan Pratim Kumar the next Treasurer of GPC with 355 votes.
The Cultural Secretary position is won by Pallavi Poli Bora with 369 votes, and the Dhiraj Hazarika won for the post of Sports Secretary with 282 votes.
Voting was conducted between 10 am to 4 pm. The counting of votes went on throughout the night. The overall turnout of voters was 95.59%.