Former Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar will be in charge of the secretary’s office for the next three years. Khanvilkar beat former joint secretary Shahalam Shaikh by 98 votes during the MCA elections at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Khanvilkar, who was MCA’s secretary from 2015 to 2019, secured 227 votes out of the 362 who turned up for the election, while Shahalam got 129 votes. MLA Jitendra Awhad (201 votes) beat Navin Shetty (155) by 46 votes for the vice-president’s post. Nilesh Bhosle (228) emerged victorious in the joint secretary’s election, beating Gaurav Payyade (128) by 100 votes.
MCA’s incumbent treasurer Arman Mallick (234) defeated Surendra Shewale (119) by 115 votes to retain his post.
Meanwhile, incumbent MCA president Ajinkya Naik, who got elected as the association’s president unopposed, credited the Sharad Pawar-Ashish Shelar group’s victory to the Mumbai cricket family. The Pawar-Shelar group won 12 out of their 16 nominations. “It’s a victory for our maidan clubs, secretaries, and every cricketer — men and women. This win belongs to the entire Mumbai cricket family,” Naik said late on Wednesday.
“This success is possible only due to the powerful support of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Ji and Sharad Pawar Ji. My heartfelt thanks to Ashish Shelar Ji for his continued guidance and encouragement,” Naik added.
There were 20 candidates in the fray for nine Apex Council member positions, and Sandeep Vichare (247 votes), Suraj Samat (246), Vignesh Kadam (242), Milind Narvekar (241), Bhushan Patil (208), Nadim Memon (198), Vikas Repale (195), Pramod Yadav (186), and Neil Savant (178) were elected.