Mumbai, Oct 21 (IANS): Amol Kale defeated former India cricketer Sandeep Patil in the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) elections held here on Thursday, to become the new president of the body.
Kale, who was backed by Ashish Shelar -- a BJP MLA from Mumbai and the newly-elected treasurer of the BCCI -- beat Patil by 25 votes for the top post of MCA. While Kale received 183 votes, Patil managed 158 votes in the 370-vote electoral college.
After the victory, Kale, who is a close aide of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and was vice-president in the previous MCA dispensation, said he respects Patil's contribution to cricket and will look to utilise his experience.
"During the election, we were only adversaries, not rivals. My respect for Sandeep remains intact. He has been a great cricketer for India and we will not hesitate to utilise his experience and expertise," the newly elected president was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Kale also added that he was always confident of victory as his candidature was backed by both Pawar and Shelar.
The 66-year old Patil also accepted the verdict in the right spirit.
"I congratulate them. I'm ready to help them in whichever way they want. I and my team have accepted this defeat, it was a fair election. I will whole-heartedly support the new body. I expect them to take Mumbai cricket forward," the former India coach said.
Meanwhile, the Patil-panel candidate, Ajinkya Naik, a managing committee member in the previous body, created history by winning the secretary post by polling a record 286 votes.
Naik, who was backed by the Sharad Pawar panel in the association, received 286 votes, winning by a margin of 251 votes against independent Mayank Khandwala (35). Neil Savant, the third candidate, got 20 votes.
Arman Mallick (162) from the SPG group beat incumbent treasurer Jagdish Achrekar (161) by one vote for the treasurer's post. With such a close margin, Achrekar sought a recount but the margin remained the same, with Sanjeev Khanolkar polling 18 votes for the same post.
The others who were elected from the Councillor's post -- Milind Narvekar (221), Nilesh Bhosale (219), Kaushik Godbole (205), Abhay Hadap (205), Suraj Samat (170), Jitendra
Awhad (163), Mangesh Satam (157), Sandeep Vichare (154), Pramod Yadav (152).