Santosh Khaitan elected president of ASIA, defeats Rajiv Ranjan

Jamshedpur, Aug 7: Santosh Khaitan was elected as the president of Adityapur Small Industries Association (ASIA), the state’s largest and oldest industrial body. The biennial polls for the president’s post concluded on a peaceful note here on Saturday. Khaitan defeated his rival Rajiv Ranjan by 128 votes. The newly elected president received 261 votes while Ranjan received 133 votes. Total valid votes were 394.

Enthusiasm ruled the day at the auditorium of Adityapur Auto Cluster ( AAC). The election through secret ballot was conducted between 12.30 pm and 4 pm. SN Khandelwal was the election observer.

A total of 549 ASIA members,  who are industrialists and entrepreneurs, participated in the polls for electing the new  president. This was for the first time it so happened that the polls took place only for the post of president.

All the candidates for the other 10 posts of office bearers were earlier elected unopposed. Counting continued till late in the evening before the results were declared.

Sources said there was a tough fight between the two nominees for the president’s post – Santosh Khaitan and Rajiv Ranjan. Both of them were the vice-presidents of the old committee.

In all there are eleven posts of office bearers – four secretaries, four vice-presidents, a general secretary, a treasurer and the president.

“ The election took place smoothly. We have ensured all gaps are filled to ensure transparency and to ensure that the polling process is smooth and fair,” said the outgoing president, Inder Agarwal.

According to Agarwal, all the necessary guidelines were followed in view of the Covid-19 induced pandemic. All the members were asked to produce their photo ID card before entering the auditorium for participating in the polls.

Mask  and social distancing was mandatory . Members were asked not to crowd at the campus of the Adityapur Auto Cluster, the venue of the biennial polls.