PANAJI
The alliance formed by former Goa Cricket Association presidents, Chetan Desai and Vinod Phadke, formerly rivals in cricket politics, swept the elections and inflicted a humiliating defeat on the panel led by current BCCI joint secretary Rohan Gauns Desai, said to be aligned to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Desai-Phadke combination ensured that all six positions of the GCA managing committee were won by their men.
Chetan's brother Mahesh, a former cricketer, won the President's post by a comfortable margin of 17 votes.
Mahesh, who played as opening batsman in the Goa Ranji team for several seasons, bagged 62 votes while his rival Mahesh Candolkar managed 45 with all 107 eligible clubs casting their votes.
The Secretary's position was won by Tulsidas Shetye in a triangular contest. He bagged 59 votes while his rival from the Gauns Desai-led Parivartan panel bagged 45 votes. Hemant Pai Angle, another former Ranji player, was a third candidate in the fray for the Secretary's post but managed to get only three votes.
Meanwhile, Paresh Phadke won the vice president's post, Anant Naik bagged the Joint Secretary's position while Sayyad Majid was elected the Treasurer. All three were sponsored by the Desai-Phadke panel.
Mahesh Behki was elected as managing committee member.
The GCA elections were a much talked of affair both in sporting as well as political circles with the Gauns Desai panel linked to the ruling BJP. The saffron party's Bicholim leader and former Goa Speaker, Rajesh Patnekar was its candidate for the vice president's post but he lost to the Desai-Phadke panel's Paresh Fadte by a 20-vote margin.
