Literary body gets a new prez

AURANGABAD: The much-publicised elections for the president of the 81st Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan that was held at Sangli, concluded on Thursday with the victory of renowned Marathi critic, professor MD Haatkanglekar.

There were four other contestants in the fray - Vasant Abaji Dhake from Amravati, Dr DT Bhosale of Pandharpur, Meena Prabhu from Mumbai and Rajan Khan from Pune.

According to professor Kautikrao Thale, chairman of the Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal - the highest body of Marathi literary associations - polling had taken place on Wednesday at Aurangabad and counting of the votes was done on Thursday.

Election Officer Dr Chandradeo Kawade opened the ballot box in front of the candidates’ representatives.

He said of the 648 votes cast, as many as 24 were invalid. While Haatkanglekar bagged 337 votes, Dhake got 196, Bhosale received 81, Prabhu bagged 150 and Khan received 20 votes.

The 82-year-old Haatkanglekar was a professor of English at Willington College Sangli. He has written eight books on Marathi criticism and edited several Marathi and English books. Even now, he is known for helping new writers.

Thale also announced that President Pratibhatai Patil will inaugurate a three-day All-India Marathi Literary Convention at Sangli on January 19 next year.