BJP nominee Surekha Vitthal Thetle has been elected first president of the newly formed Palghar Zilla Parishad, it was officially announced here today.
Incidentally, Surekha was elected from the predominantly tribal Jawhar taluka.
A total of 57 Zilla Parishad members took part in the polls conducted by district collector Abhijit Banger, in which Thetle polled as many as 48 votes against her only rival Mary Radhya Ravtya of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who polled nine votes.
In elections for the Vice President's post Sachin Patil of the Shiv Sena defeated Ratan Bhudhar of the CPM. While Patil polled 49 votes, Bhudhar could manageonly eight votes.
The party wise strength in the Palghar Zilla Parishad are BJP (21), Sena (15), BVA (10), CPM (5), NCP(4), Congress (1) and independent (1).
