June 20: A meeting of the eight-member election commission of the Kashmir Press Club (KPC), chaired by senior editor Mazoor Anjum, was held on Wednesday wherein the process of firstever election for the club was finalised.
The meeting started with an oath ceremony of the members to maintain secrecy and impartiality.
It has been decided that the first KPC elections will be held on June 29th from 10 am to 6 pm and the last date for filing nominations will be June 25 till 5 pm. The candidates can withdraw his or her nomination on June 26 by 5 p.m.
All voters and prospective candidates should go through the guidelines and rules laid for the upcoming elections before ensuring their participation in the electoral process, the commission noted.
The boundary wall inside and outside the KPC will remain open for campaigning till the election date. All are requested to use environment friendly materials like paper etc. for posters, bills and slogans for the period.
It is informed that all the primary members of the KPC, who have voting rights, should clear their pending dues pending before June 28 with the officer bearers. In case the members fail to do so, their voting rights will stand cancelled.
All voters are also impressed upon to ensure their physical presence on the day of elections for a transparent polling process. All voters should carry the identity cards issued by the KPC on the day of polling.
The elections will be held through a secret ballot mechanism. However, those voters who are travelling and are stationed outside the State can cast their votes through a video call to two non-journalist neutral members of the election commission.
All nominations filed for the four posts of president, vice president, general secretary and treasurer should be proposed by two primary members, only after their dues are cleared. The nomination papers and withdrawal forms are made available at the KPC office.
The KPC will also hold elections for the seven member executive body. The nominations for them will follow the same rules. However, the nominees can repeat themselves for the candidates contesting for the executive body.
All candidates are supposed to furnish two recently-clicked pictures for the ballot paper. The nomination papers and withdrawl forms are available at the KPC office now.
The KPC notice board will also circulate the rules and guidelines about voting rights, candidature, campaign, nominee rules, model code of conduct and withdrawal forms.
Besides, all nominations will accompany a security deposit of Rs 3000 for the post of president and Rs 2000 for other posts. There will be no fee for those contesting for the executive committee. A candidate can contest only for one post.
More guidelines in this regard will be made available on the KPC notice board at Polo View, Srinagar.