Pawar claims victory

Amid massive chaos, yelling and screaming, members of the Sharad Pawar group charged out of the room where the elections were happening and proclaimed victory by the thumping margin of 20 to 10. But soon after another member emerged and said the margin was 20-11, with the 11th vote being the the chairman's vote, cast by Ranbir Singh Mahendra. While no official confirmation of the result or the margin was available at the time, there was no denial from the Jagmohan Dalmiya-backed Mahendra group.

While the vote for the president went 20-11, the remaining members of the Pawar group are also learned to have won. This means MP Pandove (Joint Secretary), N Srinivasan (Treasurer) and Niranjan Shah (Secretary) have all won. The margin in the last case is believed to be 18-13.

Even before an official announcement has come from TS Krishna Murthy, the observer, the celebrations have begun in right earnest.