Old Guard™ yet again !!

Keen golfer and entrepreneur Ravibir Singh Grewal, acting president, who represents the ‘old guard’ in the most prestigious club in the city, the Chandigarh Golf Club in Sector 6, narrowly pips his rival, industrialist.

The ‘old guard’ has held sway in governing the prestigious Chandigarh Golf Club for as far as memory goes, and expectedly it was all along confident of its victory in the annual elections to the post of President and 11-member executive committee of the club for the year 2017. But the rival panel refused to be intimidated by history. It fought gallantly and marshalled all resources at its command to beat the trend. But in the end the president’s post went the expected way, though by a thin margin 94 votes. Ravibir polled 589 and his rival Ravinder 495. A few votes were declared invalid in one of the highest turnouts in the history of the club.

Ravibir Singh Grewal (in blue turban) celebrates with friendsPhoto By: Sumit KumarActing president Ravibir, who took over reins of the club following the death of then president IPS Mann in December 2016, was deluged with congratulations from friends as soon as it was known around 10 a.m. that he had won. The celebrations in his camp began soon thereafter. The results of elections to the executive committee were declared late in the evening.

Photo By: Sumit KumarPhoto By: Sumit KumarThose elected to the executive committee

Rohit S. Dagar (664 votes), K S Brar (631), Capt Mohanbir Singh (614), Alamgir S Grewal (574), Dr Jaspreet S Batth (559), Amarinder S Aulakh (551), Lt Col H S Chahal (531), Arvind Bajaj (516), Sanjeev Verma (512), S P S Matharoo (503), Shona A Singh (459), the lone lady in the fray.

Insiders, including in the Ravibir camp, concede it was a hard fought contest. Ravinder Singh Virk and his team made sure they personally met as many members with voting right as possible. Even on the voting day on Sunday the panellists, their family members, supporters and friends were seen frantically wooing voters for maximising the gains from their hectic campaign.

Photo By: Sumit KumarWhat finally tipped the scales was perhaps what the Virk camp would all along have been mindful of – the intervention of the political class, especially in Punjab, in favour of the ‘old guard’. While campaigning by these politicians in support of the ‘old guard’ remained a matter of intense speculation, leaders from both the Akali Dal, and the Congress, to which the former conceded power in the recently concluded assembly elections in Punjab, made sure they cast their votes. Among those seen in the club lawns on Sunday were Preneet Kaur, wife of Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh and former Union minister, former Akali finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Congress MLA from Mohali Balbir Singh Sidhu.