On Thursday, the last date for nominations for the elections to the Mumbai Cricket Association, it was finally confirmed that NCP leader Sharad Pawar will contest for the presidentship of the MCA.

Pawar's nomination papers were filed at the MCA office on his behalf by members of his panel. The NCP leader was away in New Delhi and could not be present at the MCA office to file his nomination.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister held the entire Mumbai cricketing fraternity in suspense till the end. There was speculation that he would not contest the elections and the other candidate, former India captain Ajit Wadekar, would be the lone candidate in the fray for the top post.

The proposers and seconders for the nominations are in four pairs, Jaya Shetty (Bank of Maharashtra) and Arvind Shirsekar (Inter Bhandari Tournament) are one of the four. Kishore Kuvawala (Sangam) and Ravi Mandrekar (Gaud Saraswat) are on the second set, whereas KT Shetty (Bank of Baroda) and Girish Patki (Eleven77) are the third. Leo Dharmai (Bandra Gymkhana) and Shripad Halbe (Oriental), are the last set in line.

While Pawar will contest for the presidentship, Jaya Shetty has been named to contest one of the two posts for the vice-president by the Pawar group. The surprising factor is the nomination of Kishore Kuwavala for the post of treasurer, a post that had so far a lone candidate, Ramesh Kosambia. Ravi Mandrekar and Prakash Kelkar have been named as the two nominations for two secretaries' posts.

Shripad Halbe, Girish Patki, Nirmal Mhatre, Kenia Jayantilal, Sanjay Jaywant, Sham Raul, KT Shetty and Vidya Paradkar are the nominations for nine out of the 11 positions in the managing committee from the Pawar group.

The Manohar Joshi group has nominated Wadekar as the presidential candidate. Praveen Barve and former cricketer Ravi Kulkarni will be contesting the two posts of vice-presidents. Mayank Khandwala and Sanjeev Khanolkar will contest for post of secretary.

The Bal Mahaddalkar group has named Milind Rege and Ravi Sawant as the nominations for the posts of vice-presidents. The managing commitee nominations boasts of former India cricketers Lalchand Rajput and Karsan Ghavri from the group.

There is a buzz around the affiliated clubs that can be heard afar as the date of the elections nears. The nominations can be withdrawn by Tuesday, January 16. The AGM of the association and the elections will be held on January 19.

The Sharad Pawar group:

President: Sharad Pawar. Vice-president: Jaya Shetty. Secretaries: Ravi Mandrekar, Prakash Kelkar. Treasurer: Kishore Kuvawala. Committee: Shripad Halbe, Girish Patki, Nirmal Mhatre, K. Jayantilal, Sanjay Jaywant, Sham Raul, KT Shetty and Vidya Paradkar.

The Bal Mahaddalkar group:

President: Ajit Wadekar. Vice-presidents: Milind Rege, Ravi Sawant. Secretaries: Prof Ratnakar Shetty, Sudhir Naik. Committee: Lalchand Rajput, Karsan Ghavri, Hemant Waingankar, Avi Sule, PV Shetty, Madhu Patwardhan, Samir Bandekar, Shrikant Tigdi, Hemu Dalvi, Nitin Dalal and Laxman Chauhan.

The Manohar Joshi group:

President: Ajit Wadekar. Vice-presidents: Praveen Barve, Raju Kulkarni. Treasurer: Ramesh Kosambia. Secretaries: Sanjeev Khanolkar, Mayank Khandwala. Committee: Pravin Gogri, Dara Pochkhanwala, Aroon Samsi, Deepak Jadhav, Chandrakant Pandit, Uday Gharat, Nadeem Memon, Dilip Karande, Wasim Master and Jayant Jhaveri.

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