Senior journalist Chandra Shekhar Dharni became the chairman of the Haryana Legislative Assembly Press Advisory Committee for the second consecutive term

Haryana (The Uttam Hindu): The Haryana Legislative Assembly Press Advisory Committee (PAC) elected senior journalist Chandra Shekhar Dharni as chairman for the financial year 2025-26. PAC Vice President Jitendra Chaudhary and Secretary Yoginder Sharma were elected by a majority vote.

In the PAC meeting chaired by Haryana Legislative Assembly Secretary Rajiv Prasad, Dinesh Bhardwaj proposed a repeat of last year's committee. Anil Gaba, Deepak Bansal, and Sushil Bhargava openly supported the proposal. Following the completion of the process, the new PAC office-bearers and most of the members expressed their gratitude to Haryana Assembly Speaker Harvinder Kalyan.

Earlier, in a meeting of the PAC chaired by Assembly Secretary Rajiv Prasad, suggestions were made that Haryana should receive a budget and facilities similar to those of the Punjab PAC. Parking should be reserved for PAC members in Haryana, similar to the parking reserved for PAC members in the Punjab Assembly. Dharani had previously unanimously elected the PAC Chairman for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Recently, Assembly Speaker Harvinder Kalyan constituted a Press Advisory Committee of accredited journalists, modeled after the various committees of the Assembly. This committee, formed in 2024-25, has been extended for 2025-26. The committee's tenure will last until March 31, 2026, to ensure arrangements for the Assembly's budget session. A new committee will be formed from April 1, 2026. The Press Advisory Committee formed by the Assembly Speaker includes senior journalists Deepak Bansal, Rakesh Gupta, Chandrashekhar Dharni, Yogendra Sharma, Dinesh Bhardwaj, Sushil Bhargava, Anil Gaba, Mahavir Jain, Jitendra Chaudhary, Ankit Dudani, Pawan Kumar Sinwar, Nischal Bhatnagar, and Anurag Agarwal. Special invitees include Rajesh Jain and Sanjeev Sharma. A meeting of this committee will be convened soon to elect office bearers. The journalists expressed their gratitude to Assembly Speaker Harvinder Kalyan and his advisor, Ram Narayan Yadav.

Dharni's leadership has played a key role in strengthening communication and transparency between the media and the Assembly for two consecutive years. After becoming the PAC chairperson for the first time, the first PAC meeting was held at Haryana Bhawan in Delhi, with a special focus on establishing better coordination between the media and the Assembly. Under Dharni's leadership, the PAC conducted a study tour to Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, which provided committee members with first-hand experience of administrative processes and media practices.

Chandra Shekhar Dharni expressed his gratitude to all his colleagues after being elected with a majority. "I am proud of this honor and responsibility. I will do my best to make the coordination between the Haryana Assembly and the media more effective."