The election of office-bearers of the Ganjam Bar Association ended on Friday. Senior lawyer and student leader of the 1960s Basanta Kumar Panda was elected as the president while Rama Prasad Panda was elected as the secretary and Karunakar Panigrahi as the Joint Secretary.
Panda defeated his nearest rival PSN Patra by 143 votes by polling 560 votes. According to information, 987 members, 85 per cent of the total, of the association exercised their franchise with election officer Pradip Panda conducting the elections. Advocate Prof KC Panda, while congratulating the new president, hoped that he would carry forward the movement for establishment of a Bench of the Odisha High Court in Brahmapur and to develop a full-fledged modern electronic library in the days ahead which would be helpful to all the members of the bar.