The elections for the governing committee of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in Delhi, scheduled for Saturday, were indefinitely postponed following an “ugly” and “unsavoury” incident involving two candidates.
In a notice issued on Saturday morning, current FCC president S Venkat Narayan and secretary Prakash Nadda said “the atmosphere is not peaceful and conducive” to hold the elections. The annual general meeting, or the AGM of the club, which has over 500 journalists and photojournalists, was also postponed indefinitely.
“...The AGM and Elections are hereby postponed for some time to ensure their being conducted in a free, fair, and peaceful atmosphere. The new date will be announced in due course of time,” the notice further said.
While the notice did not mention the names of the two candidates involved, it said the police were investigating the incident, which led to “one’s hospitalisation”.
According to the police, a scuffle involving FCC members – Munish Gupta, Pankaj Yadav and Deepak Dwivedi – broke outside the club premises on Friday evening.
While Gupta was in the running for the president’s post, Yadav was contesting for the secretary position. Dwivedi had filed nominations for both the posts but his candidature was deemed invalid on March 26, due to an ongoing dispute between him and the FCC management. The matter is pending before the Patiala House Court, the FCC notice cancelling his candidature read.
Based on Munish Gupta’s complaint, the police have booked Pankaj Yadav for criminal intimidation, assault, and wrongful restraint, Devesh Kumar Mahla, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi zone), told Newslaundry. Yadav was also bound down for questioning at the Tilak Marg police station on Saturday for questioning and was later released.
Gupta told the police that he was allegedly “obstructed, abused and slapped by Pankaj Yadav”, who also purportedly threatened him with “dire consequences” if he “came to the club”. A Delhi police PCR team soon arrived at the spot.
According to the police, Gupta was taken to the hospital for medical examination, and had not suffered major injuries.
Newslaundry could not reach Gupta for comment.
On Friday evening at 11pm, Gupta and Dwivedi had stepped out of the club and Yadav was already present at the spot with “one other person”, the police said.
A member of the staff that works at the FCC told Newslaundry that Dwivedi had asked Gupta to step outside with him, and Pankaj Yadav was already waiting for the duo at the gate. The staffer, who reportedly witnessed the alleged scuffle, said that Gupta had insisted on speaking in front of a CCTV camera so the interaction could be recorded. The three men were inebriated, the staffer claimed.
Speaking to Newslaundry, Yadav denied his involvement in the incident. He even claimed that he was not even present on the FCC premises at the time of the alleged incident. “The police can say anything. But I wasn’t even close to the venue,” he claimed.
Yadav was expelled for alleged misconduct from the FCC in 2021, during Munish Gupta’s tenure as the club’s governing body president. However, he was reinstated under Venkat, who has been the president since 2023.
‘Long-standing feud’
A member of the FCC governing committee, requesting anonymity, told Newslaundry that Gupta and Dwivedi have had long-standing tensions running between them since the last elections. Dwivedi was also reportedly unhappy with Gupta’s election as president, a position he held from 2021 to 2023.
In 2022, a Delhi-based bilingual outlet, Delhi Crown, reported that Dwivedi had filed a petition with the Registrar of Societies, alleging that the 2021 FCC elections were "rigged on a large scale" allegedly at Gupta’s behest.
Sunita Bharadwaj, legal counsel for the FCC, alleged that Delhi Crown was a front run by Pankaj Yadav – believed to be a close associate of Dwivedi –to “defame the club and its members”. “We have filed several cases against him [Yadav] for posting false and defamatory content on social media to mislead members and tarnish the club’s reputation,” she told Newslaundry.
“Yadav uses that platform [Delhi Crown] to target anyone he disagrees with,” said the FCC governing committee member quoted above.
Yadav has, however, denied running the outlet.
In the meantime, the FCC governing committee is currently investigating the Friday incident. Pending further inquiry, it is believed to be considering the suspension of memberships of those involved.
This is not the first time that controversy has hit the FCC general body elections.
Dwivedi was reportedly expelled from the club in October 2024 due to alleged misconduct following the passing of a no-confidence motion by eight members against the incumbent office bearers. The members had appointed Simran Sodhi as the interim president and Sanjay Kumar as the interim general secretary “with immediate effect.” The two were later expelled from the club.
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