Shashil Namoshi elected HKE Society president for the third time

March 18, 2024 07:04 pm | Updated 07:05 pm IST - KALABURAGI

Shashil G. Namoshi and Raja B. Bhimalli won the elections to the post of president and vice-president, respectively, of the Hyderabad Karnataka Education Society (HKES) in Kalaburagi on Sunday. They have taken charge of the society administration for the next three years.

A two-time president Mr. Namoshi defeated Santosh Bilgundi, son of two-time president Bheemashankar Bilgundi, by a margin of 113 votes. Mr. Namoshi secured 616 votes, while Mr. Bilgundi polled 503 votes. Sharanabasappa Kamareddy came third securing 249 votes.

Mr. Bhimalli defeated R.S. Hosagouda for vice-president’s post with a huge margin of 590 votes. While Mr. Bhimalli secured 847 votes, Mr. Hosagouda polled 257 votes. Nitin B. Jawali finished third with 254 votes.

Besides winning the two top posts, six of the 13 governing council members posts went to candidates of the Namoshi panel. As many as five contestants from the Bilgundi panel and two from the Kamareddy panel were elected to the governing council body.

Those who were elected to the governing council included Kailash Patil, Arunkumar M. Patil, Udaykumar S. Chincholi, Kiran A. Deshmukh, Rajnish S. Wali, Mahadevappa Rampure, Nagendra S. Manthale, Sharanabasappa S. Harwal, Sainath N. Patil, Anilkumar B. Pattan, Naganna S. Ghanti, Anilkumar S. Margol and Nishant G. Yeli.

Dynasty dominance rejected

Voters who participated in the elections held on Saturday to the HKE Society seem to have decimated dynasty supremacy by defeating Santosh Bilgundi, son of outgoing president Bhemashankar Bilgundi.

The voters said that two-time president Bheemashankar Bilgundi, though promised that he will not contest the election for another term, completed two-terms in office and was now fighting through his son Santosh Bilgundi, as it were for the third time, with an intention to pass over the president’s baton to his son.

This irked voters who said that the outgoing president, besides failing to pay the stipend of post-graduate students, also tried to revise the period of the president’s term.

Mr. Bilgundi failed to keep his promise of allotting new membership and tried to give wild card entry for membership to a handful of influential people during his tenure. This was opposed by the governing council, the voters added.