Sahota is NRI Sabha chief
JALANDHAR: Kirpal Singh Sahota has been elected president of the NRI Sabha, Punjab, in a onesided contest, defeating his nearest rival Jasbir Singh Shergill by a margin of 160 votes here on Saturday. Sahota, a US-based NRI, is a resident of Bara Pind near Goraya.
Pritam Singh, the third contestant in the fray withdrew his name in Sahota’s support this morning.
The elections, which were marred by low turnout due to coronavirus scare, saw a low turnout of 363. A total of 22,923 voters are registered with the NRI Sabha. While Sahota got 260 votes, Shergill could manage only 100.
A senior administration official said that due to the coronavirus scare, many voters chose to skip the elections.
A total of 22,923 voters are registered with the NRI Sabha, but this time Covid-19 upset travel plans of many and they did not come to cast their votes, besides some were not interested to cast their vote.
A total of 1,624 votes were polled in the last election, which was won by Shergill.
Additional deputy commissioner-cum-presiding officer Jasbir Singh said the tenure of the NRI Sabha president is for two years. Registered NRI voters were eligible to vote and no nominees have been allowed to exercise their franchise.
The entire process of voting and counting of votes was being held under CCTV surveillance. Twelve polling booths were been set up inside the office of NRI Sabha.
This Sabha, which remained defunct since 2015, will function again here with 16-member staff, including executive director a government officer, superintendent, law officer, media officer, and clerical staff and class four will work, whose expenses are being born by members.