Writer Sunil Gangopadhyaya new president of Sahitya Akademi

New Delhi, Feb 20 (UNI) Noted Bangla writer Sunil Gangopadhyay was today elected the new president of the Sahitya Akademi, considered as India's most prestigious literary post.

Mr Gangopadhyay defeated noted Malayalam writer and Jnanpith award winner M T Vasudevan Nair by five votes in the election for the post of president of the Akademi, a prestigious literary body in India.

In an election for the post, necessitated after lack of consensus in the 89-member general council in the name of the president, Mr Gangopadhyay bagged 45 votes while Mr Nair got 40 votes.

Sanskrit scholar and writer Satyavrat Shastri, the third candidate for the post, got just seven votes in the election.

Noted Punjabi writer Satinder Singh Noor was elected as the vice president of the Akademi. Mr Noor was declared unopposed to the post after former secretary of the Akademi Indranath Chowdhry withdrew his candidature for the post.

Famous writer Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari has been made the Akademi's Hindi coordinator.

The Sahitya Akademi is responsible for coordinating literary activities in all Indian languages and promoting the country's "cultural unity".

UNI AR BDP KN1925