Nagpur: The SrujanSetu panel, led by Girish Gandhi, registered a sweeping victory winning 21 of the 22 seats of the Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh (VSS) executive committee. The elections were held to constitute new leadership of the literary body for a five-year term beginning April 1 this year. A total of 83 candidates contested the election. Gandhi was elected VSS president during the counting held on Sunday. The counting of votes began on Sunday and continued until around 9pm on Monday.Among all other contenders, only senior journalist Shripad Aparajit — who contested from the panel led by outgoing VSS president Pradeep Date — secured a seat on the executive committee. Candidates from panels led by Date, Shripad Bhalchandra Joshi, and Dr Ravindra Shobhane, along with several independent candidates, were also in the fray for the coveted posts.The election process generated considerable interest in Nagpur and other parts of Vidarbha over the past 1.5 months, with multiple panels campaigning actively for control of the literary organisation.Among the winning candidates, Shubhada Fadnavis secured the highest votes at 2,758, followed by Vishnu Manohar (2,679), Balwant Kulkarni (2,549), Parag Ghonge (2,512), Ajey Gampawar (2,499), and Aruna Sabane (2,495). Aparajit received 2,480 votes. Other candidates elected to the executive committee include Dr Shobha Rokade, Sandeep Baraskar, Lakhansingh Katare, Swati Moharir, Asavari Tidke, Dr Jayshree Kulkarni, Chandrakant Lakhe, Anil Indane, Madhuri Sakulkar, Dr Devendra Punse, Amar Kulkarni, Vijay Karnewar, Shyam Dhond, Irfan Shaikh, and Vivek Kavthekar.The counting process was conducted under the supervision of returning officer Mohan Parkhi, with assistance from election staff and political science students from various colleges.
