Ravi Savant is MCA interim president

Ravi Savant, who was Honorary Treasurer till date, was elected interim president of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) after he beat Prof Ratnakar Shetty by a 10-5 vote margin at a Managing Committee meeting at Wankhede Stadium's Cricket Centre yesterday.

Ravi Savant at the Mumbai Cricket Association office yesterday. Pic/Suresh KK

The MCA president's post was vacant following the recent death of Vilasrao Deshmukh.u00a0According to the MCA constitution, the managing committee is entrusted with the responsibility of electing the president after Deshmukh's death on August 14. The voting was conducted through a secret ballot and the process lasted for about an hour.

Upset by the loss, Shetty decided to step down from the post of vice-president. He is also Chief Administrative Officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. "If the mandate of the house is such…and if your committee does not have confidence in you, I don't think it is proper to continue," said Shetty, who is expected to officially intimate the MCA today.

However, Savant will remain in office till April 2013. "We will hold our Annual General Meeting in April to decide who will be the next president. This was just a formality which needed to be completed. I have become the president of the association, but there won't be any celebrations as I am filling in for someone who is no more. It's a sad occasion," said Savant.

Following Savant's promotion to the top post, a vacancy for the treasurer's post was created. It went to former MCA secretary Mayank Khandwalla. His name was unanimously accepted at the
meeting.
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