Lingaraj Angadi on Sunday succeeded in his attempt to seek a second term as president of the Dharwad Zilla Kannada Sahitya Parishat by defeating his nearest rival by a margin of 225 votes here. In the polling, which was held on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 1,784 voters out of the total 2,247 cast their votes. Of them, 13 votes were declared as invalid.
Prof. Angadi, who was pitted against members of his own team of like-minded persons, secured 754 votes, while his nearest rival Shankara Halagatti polled 529 votes. Another member of the same group, Mahesh Horakeri, polled 327 votes, while official and researcher Hanumakshi Gogi got 161 votes.
Prof. Angadi’s margin of victory, however, came down this year. In the previous election, Prof. Angadi had won against D.M. Hiremath (who this time supported Shankar Halagatti) by a margin of 296 votes. The vote count of Mr. Hanumakshi Gogi (who had contested the last time also) came down to 161 from 246.
Prof. Angadi’s friends-turned-foes had campaigned against giving him a second term and had even levelled a few charges against him.
Speaking to presspersons after the win, Prof. Angadi said that the Kannada Sahitya Parishat unit would work more effectively in the next three years for the promotion of Kannada-related activities with the cooperation of all. He said that efforts would be made to get Dharwad as the venue for the Akhila Bharat Kannada Sahitya Sammelan next year.
The following is the taluk-wise votes obtained by the contestants: Dharwad 728: L. Angadi 299; S. Halagatti 273; M. Horakeri 49; H. Gogi 102; Invalid 5.
Hubballi 467: L. Angadi 250; S. Halagatti 56; M. Horakeri 120; H. Gogi 35; Invalid 6.
Kalghatgi 98: L. Angadi 28; S. Halagatti 38; M. Horakeri 28, H. Gogi 4.
Kundgol 256: L. Angadi 113; S. Halagatti 55; M. Horakeri 78, H. Gogi 10.
Navalgund 235: L. Angadi 64; S. Halagatti 107; M. Horakeri 52; H. Gogi 10; Invalid 2.
