The 8th annual elections of the Crime Reporters Association (CRA) were successfully held on Saturday, December 13, at the Karachi Press Club. Candidates from the Journalist Panel and Justice Panel contested the elections, in which the Journalist Panel secured victory on 11 out of 13 seats, while the Justice Panel won two seats, including the presidency.
According to CRA Spokesperson Asif Khan, members displayed great enthusiasm and traditional spirit during the polling, which began at 12 noon and continued uninterrupted until 6pm. A total of 154 members exercised their right to vote.
After the polling, counting was completed in the presence of the candidates’ polling agents, and the Election Committee formally announced the results. For the post of president, Justice Panel candidate Sameer Qureshi secured victory with 90 votes while his opponent Shahid Anjum received 64 votes.
For the post of vice president, Ubaid Shah won with 100 votes and his opponent Kamran Minhas secured 51 votes. For the post of general secretary, Nadeem Ahmed emerged victorious after polling 100 votes, while his opponent Shah Rukh Shah received 50 votes. For the post of joint secretary, Moiz Saraj secured a clear victory with 109 votes, while his rival candidate Syed Atif Ali received 38 votes.
Muhammad Asif Khan was elected as the information secretary after receiving 95 votes, while Syed Bilal Ali Shah secured 52 votes. For the post of treasurer, Akram Qureshi won with 90 votes, whereas, Shahzaib Hussain received 60 votes.
For the governing body seats, Adnan Rajput secured the maximum 106 votes, followed by Aurangzeb Abdul Jabbar with 105 votes in second place, and Matloob Baig in third place with 97 votes. The other governing body seats were won by Waheed Jilani with 91 votes, Saba Arooj Khan with 87 votes, Saqib Alam with 85 votes and Azhar Zaidi with 78 votes.
The Election Committee comprised senior journalist Imtiaz Khan Faran as the chairman and Shams Kairio as the member who ensured the conduct of transparent elections. The newly elected office-bearers of the association paid tribute to the Election Committee for its services. They also thanked the secretary and cabinet of the Karachi Press Club for facilitating the conduct of the elections at the club. Following the announcement of the CRA election results, senior journalists associated with the Karachi Press Club and Karachi Union of Journalists, Sindh home minister, inspector general of police, Karachi additional IG, renowned social figure Ramzan Chhipa and various other social and political personalities congratulated the newly elected office-bearers.
In a message to the members of the association, the newly elected cabinet expressed its resolve to utilise all its capabilities for the welfare of members, resolution of professional issues and enhancement of technical skills of the members.
