Thakur's slender one-vote victory over Patel provided the only moment of triumph for the anti-N Srinivasan camp at the elections which were swept by the ruling group loyalists at the much-postponed AGM. Srinivasan himself could not contest for the President's post owing to a Supreme Court directive.
Jharkhand Cricket Association's Amitabha Choudhary was elected the Joint Secretary beating Goa's Chetan Desai, belonging to the anti-Srinivasan faction, while Haryana's Anirudh Choudhary won the treasurer's position by defeating Rajiv Shukla 16-13.
The three who were elected unopposed are Andhra's G Ganga Raju (south zone), Assam's Goutam Roy (east) with M L Nehru of Jammu and Kashmir representing the north zone.
The road for Dalmiya was cleared after former President and NCP leader Sharad Pawar failed to get a proposer from east zone, prompting the Maratha strongman to pull out of the race.
It is learnt that two members did not vote at all, while a third who owes allegiance to a leading political party decided to vote for Thakur.
In the case of Joint Secretary's position, both Desai and Choudhary garnered 15 votes each but Shivlal Yadav, who chaired the meeting, tilted the scales in Choudhary's favour with his casting vote.