Gill takes CGC top post by 413 votes

Chandigarh: Birinder Singh Gill aka Gilly on Monday registered a victory in the Chandigarh

Golf

Club (CGC) presidential

elections

over his opponent Lt Col (retd) J S Panag by a margin of 413 votes. A total of 913 members of the club turned up to cast their vote on Sunday. Birinder got 663 votes in his favour while 250 members voted for Panag.

The 11-member executive committee was also elected. Nine members from the Gill camp-- Dr GS Kochhar, Kulbeer Singh Brar (Sweety), Amarbir Singh Lehal (Sandy), Lt Col HS Chahal (Bobby), Amarinder Singh Aulakh (Gags), Balbir Singh Mangat (Bob), Jaspal Singh Sidhu, Col AD Singh (AD) and Sanjit Singh Bala -- were voted into the committee.

Two candidates from the Panag faction, Col B S Rangi and Col Iqbal Singh were chosen by the voters in the executive committee.

It was a fairly one-sided contest with Gill leading the charts ever since the counting started. Gill did not face much of a competition from his counterpart. Expressing happiness on his victory, Gill said voting has sent out a clear message to his detractors. “The members who were feeding voters misinformation in order to taint my image have been silenced by the majority of the voters. The victory is certainly by a huge margin and it clearly reflects that members have a pragmatic approach towards the sport,” Gill told TOI on his victory.

Gill feels that allocating appropriate portfolios to the executive committee is the most crucial task at his hands once he takes the office.

“The junior golf academy and the junior golf range are my brainchild and nobody can take credit for it,” he added.

Gill also wants to get rid of crossover that has been a hindrance at the course ever since its inception. “The 9th and 7th fairways have to be adjusted with caution as they intersect each other which is probably the reason why the club is unable to host bigger tournaments. I will employ technical experts to sort out the matter,” stated Gill.