BENGALURU: Former Additional Director General of Doordarshan Mahesh Joshi is set to become the president of 106-year-old Kannada Sahitya Parishat, polls for which were held on Sunday. Of the total 3.04 lakh voters, 1.59 lakh cast their franchise on Sunday. Of the 21 contestants in fray for the president’s post, Joshi got 68,525 votes, Va Ch Channegowda 16,755, CK Ramegowda 14,100, Mayanna 8,791, Saraswathi Shivappa 6,471 and Rajashekara Mulaali 5,209 votes.
Joshi served as the additional director-general of Doordarshan, Delhi and South India. He is a recipient of many awards, including Nadoja, President’s Home Guards and Civil Defence Medal for Meritorious Service. The Parishat president’s term is for five years. In a series of tweets, Joshi thanked his voters, saying, “I want to make Kannada Sahitya Parishat, a commoners Parishat.”
Postal ballots yet to be counted
Names of the winners will be formally announced by election officer GM Gangadhara Swamy on November 24. Postal ballots (over 4,000) are yet to be counted.Meanwhile, many political leaders, including minister Murgesh Nirani, former ministers Suresh Kumar and Aravind Limbavli, wished Joshi.
In 2016, Manu Baligar had won by a margin of 20,000 votes, while this time, Joshi trounced the nearest opponent by 46,000 votes. The Parishat polls were scheduled to be held in May 2021, but were postponed due to the Covid pandemic.