Motihari, July 18: Voting for election of 15 executive members for the East Champaran chapter of Red Cross Society was held today. Of a total 1,240 Red Cross members, 877 voted for the 40 candidates in the fray.

Apart from the sitting secretary, Dr C.L. Jha, other members in the poll fray included Dr Anwarul Haque, Dr P.C. Verma, government pleader N.P. Lalit, journalists Gulrez Shahzad, Vinod Singh and Sanjay Kaushik and others.

Some senior doctors like Dr Shambhu Sharan and Dr C.B. Singh, however, accused the sitting secretary of politicising the international organisation over the past few years.

Dr Singh also charged Jha of misappropriation of the Red Cross relief fund for vested political interests, mainly in the Sugauli Assembly segment. Jha has unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections twice from the area.