National Press Club gets Farida Yasmin as first female general secretary; Shafiqur elected president

For the first time in 62 years, members of the National Press Club have elected a female journalist as the general secretary of the club.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 31 Dec 2016, 07:38 PM
Updated : 31 Dec 2016, 07:57 PM

Farida Yasmin from the Daily Ittefaq was elected general secretary of the National Press Club in Saturday's election. Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman has been elected president from the same panel.

Farida’s husband Naem Nizam is also a well-known journalist.

The pro-Awami League Shafiqur-Farida panel of won 14 of the 17 posts including the posts of senior vice-president, vice-president and treasurer.

Pro-BNP MA Aziz-Kader Ghani Chowdhury panel's Ilias Khan won a joint general secretary post while Hasan Hafiz an executive member post.

Mainul Alam has been elected execute member as an independent candidate.

Election committee Chairman Mostafa Jabbar announced the results in the evening after the day-long voting.

Prime Minister's Information Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, among others, was present.

Of the 1,218 voters, 1,089 cast their votes.

Shafiqur bagged 672 votes. His nearest rival MA Aziz got 279.

Farida polled 439 votes against her nearest rival Kader Ghani's 350 votes.

Others elected from the pro-AL panel include Saiful Alam (senior vice-president), Azizul Islam Bhuiyan (vice-president), Shahed Chowdhury (joint general secretary), and Kartik Chakraborty (treasurer).

The executive members are- Shyamal Dutta, Quddus Afrad, Rezwanul Haque Raja, Mollah Jalal, Shamsuddin Ahmed Charu, Shahnaz Begum, Kollayan Shaha and Hasan Arefin.