Nalin Patel retains BBA president post

VADODARA: Former president Nalin Patel has retained the top position in Baroda Bar Association (BBA). He defeated his closest contender Pravin Thakkar for the top post of president in the elections by a convincing margin on Friday.
Patel, who polled 1,260 votes, won the elections by a margin of 329 votes against Thakkar's 931 votes. The post of vice-president was won by Vikank Joshi with 1,430 votes.Joshi won by a margin of 633 votes as against M H Shaikh's 797 votes.
Following the decision to forego general elections this year, the committee under the leadership of Nalin Patel was dissolved in May. A major signature campaign was run by members of the committee demanding justification for not holding the polls.
Patel's victory was celebrated by his supporters outside the court on Friday evening.
The two positions for secretary were won by Jagat Desai with 983 votes and Nehal Sutharia with 771 votes. Nine candidates contested for the two posts of secretaries of BBA.
Rishikesh Acharya, Viral Chauhan, Mital Hande, James Macwan, Mayank Pandya, Ghanshyam Patel, Amarjit Rana, Biren Shah, Ritesh Thakkar and Mitesh Vedani have been elected members of the managing committee.
Four women lawyers contested for the two positions reserved for lady advocates in the committee. Shital Upadhyay and Vibhuti Vyas won on the seats. "The electoral functions went smoothly with no hurdles of any kind. The victory margins of the candidates are very high which is remarkable. Due to high margins, there were no conflicts between contestants," said in-charge president of BBA Niramay Parikh.
The counting, which began on Friday morning, was telecast live for the first time on large screens installed at Nyay Mandir. Live updates were also relayed through a mobile application.