Dr Pantawane, a respected writer credited with bringing to the forefront a whole generation of budding Dalit writers, has been leading the Asmita Darsh movement since the last four decades. He says the mahamandal has been biased against him from the very beginning. The other contestant for the president's post is renowned port, Pune-based Vasant Bapat.

He says despite repeated requests, mahamandal officials were reluctantto send him a list of voters for the election. ``And when the list did arrive on October 8, I was shocked to notice that it was not endorsed by any mahamandal official. Moreover, the number of members inducted into the 35-member reception committee seem to have been pruned to 17,'' he says.

He claims that the ``antipathy'' that the mahamandal nurtures against him is obvious from the fact that a letter he had written to its officials dated October 2, 1998, was replied to with a letter dated September 29, 1998, probably to show that he was being kept abreast of the poll procedures well in advance.

The annual Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sammelan is one of the biggest literary meets of any language in the country. Even when it is held in remote rural parts of Maharashtra, the attendance is well above one lakh. The two-day affair generally assumes the proportions of a mega-festival, where poets, writers and playwrights interact directly with their readers.

The president's election is conducted via a secretballot and being elevated to the post is considered the ultimate accolade the world of literature can bestow on a writer in Marathi.