NAGPUR: The two month long Nagpur High Court Bar Association (HCBA) elections came to an end on Friday with Anil Kilor trouncing his rival Shreerang Bhandarkar with a narrow margin in a keenly contested fight between two popular lawyers for the president's post. Over 1350 of the 1505 eligible voters turned up to vote at the historic High Court building.Kilor, who is also president of NGO Jan Manch , polled 687 votes against Bhandarkar's 627, thus bringing the curtains down on one of the most closely watched battles for top post in association's history. Veteran lawyer VG Bhamburkar, who has contested elections for the prestigious post for many years, could muster only 47 votes.Another interesting battle was fought for the treasurer's post between Preeti Rane and GG Saoji, which the former won by a margin of just 47 votes. Except president and treasurer, other posts witnessed lopsided fights with candidates winning by huge margins. Prafulla Khubalkar won the secretary's post securing 847 votes while defeating rival Rashi Deshpande who polled 347 votes.Purushottam Patil, became vice-president for second time in a row along with new entrant Gauri Venkatraman by defeating Dilip Daga and Nitin Vyawhare. Joint secretary's post recorded the most one-sided fight with Bhushan Mohata winning by a huge margin of 693 votes against AA Sonak.Even for the library in-charge's post, there was a one-sided fight where UK Bisen crushed SD Chande by 494 votes. There was keen fight among 18 contestants for the executive committee, but Sanket Charpe stood out by securing highest 1,108 votes among all candidates in the HCBA polls. He was followed by PM Anjikar (856), Kaustubh Deogade (820), and AA Pannase (806).An elated Kilor told TOI he would be focusing on the development works for lawyers and would take HCBA to newer heights. "Immediately, I would be addressing the shortage of sitting space and parking problems and would try to adjust junior lawyers in the vacant spaces."Bhandarkar congratulated Kilor for the victory hoping the latter would give full justice to the coveted post. "He is a mature and seasoned campaigner and knows how to work in an organization," Bhandarkar said.Former chairman of the Bar Council of Maharashtra , Asif Qureshi hoped all problems like new chambers for lawyers would be resolved once new body takes over. Firdos Mirza said the Kilor-led team should make efforts to construct new library. Ketki Jaltare lauded the election committee for efficiently conducting the polls.

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