Jagmohan Dalmiya is set to return as the BCCI president, more than a decade after he last held that position
Amol Karhadkar in Chennai01-Mar-2015Jagmohan Dalmiya is set to return as the BCCI president, more than a decade after he last held that position, at the board’s AGM in Chennai on Monday. The former BCCI and ICC president has emerged as a consensus candidate between the two rival factions of the board, led by the sidelined incumbent N Srinivasan, and the former BCCI and ICC president Sharad Pawar, but the real power struggle might be witnessed in the elections to the junior positions.Dalmiya, who is president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, filed his nomination papers with support from his own association, the National Cricket Club in Kolkata and the four other east zone associations. Since it is the east zone’s turn to nominate the president for the three-year term, Dalmiya wanted to ensure that a candidate from the zone – rather than an outsider parachuting in – held the post. He had been approached by Pawar’s faction to contest as a candidate from their group, while Srinivasan’s group had asked him to pick between the post of president and “chief patron”, a position that doesn’t currently exist in the BCCI.
Nominations for other posts
Vice-presidents
Pawar group Ravi Savant (west), Jyotiraditya Scindia (central)
Srinivasan group G Gangaraju (south), TC Mathew (west), CK Khanna (central), Gautam Roy (east), ML Nehru (north)
BCCI elections in the past decade have been a mere formality with all nine elected officials – president, secretary, treasurer, joint secretary and five vice-presidents – unanimous choices. This year is likely to be different, with elections expected for the remaining three principal office bearers’ posts. The Pawar group has nominated Anurag Thakur for secretary, Rajiv Shukla for treasurer and Chetan Desai – secretary of the Goa Cricket Association secretary and so long allied to Srinivasan – for the post of joint secretary, while Srinivasan’s has nominated Sanjay Patel, Anirudh Chaudhry and Amitabh Chaudhary for the posts of secretary, treasurer and joint secretary, respectively.In fact the power-play could begin at the start of the AGM, over the question of who will chair the meeting. It’s a key position, especially if there are electoral contests, because the chairman of the AGM gets two votes: One as chairman and a casting vote in the case of a tie. If he already has voting rights, as the nominee of an association, that makes three votes.The BCCI rules say the president presides over the AGM but the Supreme Court has clarified that Srinivasan can be a participant at the AGM only to the extent of casting his vote, as and when required, for the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. It is then up to the house to decide who presides over the meeting. It is understood that the Srinivasan camp is likely to request the meeting at the start to allow Shivlal Yadav to chair the meeting since he was appointed by the Supreme Court as the interim president for administrative affairs during Srinivasan’s exile. It will make the point that allowing anyone else to chair the meeting could invite more litigation.Depending on how the number game pans out overnight, the Pawar lobby will decide on whether to back or oppose Yadav as chairman of the meeting. It will be mindful of what happened in 2004, when Dalmiya used his casting vote in favour of his candidate for president Ranbir Singh Mahendra – against Pawar.The chairman will also have to pick the legitimate representative of two key member associations, Delhi and Districts Cricket Association and Baroda Cricket Association, which have deputed members of two warring factions for the AGM. The chair decides the legitimate representative and also has the right to bar the disputed member from the AGM.The BCA managing committee has deputed Rakesh Parikh for the AGM, while its president Samarjit Gaekwad has decided to exercise his right to attend the AGM. CK Khanna, the Srinivasan group’s vice-presidential candidate, has claimed to be the official DDCA representative. However, Sneh Bansal, the incumbent BCCI vice-president, has questioned Khanna’s nomination through a court order. Also likely to be present at the meeting are Mehmood Abdi and Amin Pathan, representatives of the warring RCA factions, who will look to present their respective cases to the men who run Indian cricket.The pre-AGM meetings are being held at the Park Sheraton in Chennai, where Srinivasan is in the thick of the action. He was involved in meetings through the day, first with the face of the opposition camp Anurag Thakur in the morning and then with all the voters. Those in the Pawar camp were also shuttling between the two wings of the hotel.Also in the hotel is Aditya Verma, the petitioner in the IPL corruption scandal court case that has effectively brought things to this pass. Srinivasan’s sidelining has come about as a result of Verma’s PIL, which has also led to the election itself being twice deferred.Once the meeting is done and dusted the new board will have to get down to business. High up on the agenda – the fate of selectors, who are appointed for a year’s term at each AGM. Saba Karim and Rajinder Hans, both of whom have been recalled midway through the World Cup, are in danger of being replaced.
