New Delhi: The scrutiny process for the Indian Olympic Association’s election on November 25 was postponed on Saturday after S Y Quraishi, chairman of the three-men Election Commission Panel, suddenly resigned from the post.
IOA had appointed a three member committee headed by Quraishi and two former High Court judges – Justice J D Kapoor and Justice V K Bali – to oversee the election process for which Chautala and Randhir Singh had filed nomination for the President’s post on Friday.
The announcement of his resignation was made at the residence of returning officer Justice Bali when both – Abhey Singh Chautala and Randhir Singh camp– had gathered to get the scrutiny process underway on Saturday.
The boxing federation Chairman, Chautala was represented by Chautala himself, along with Hockey India General Secretary Narender Batra, Khoko President, Rajiv Mehta and Weightlifting President, B P Baisya and their lawyer, while the Randhir Singh group was represented by Judo Federation of India President Jagdish Tytler and Net Ball Federation general secretary Hari Om Kaushik and their lawyer, Atul Nanda.
While Quraishi cited the IOA’s decision to not follow the National Sports Code for the election process as the reason behind his resignation, sources said there were definitely some external factors at work.
As soon as the news of Quraishi’s resignation was broken, the Randhir Singh lawyer demanded immediate postponement of the scrutiny process. However, lawyers from Abhey Singh Chautala’s side continued to push for the election process to go ahead as the other two members of the election panel still being present.
“The way, lawyer from Randhir camp reacted to the news it looked like they were already anticipating the news and found a way to postpone the process because the numbers are clearly not in their favour,” said a source, who was presented at the venue.
“Even Justice Kapoor felt that the scrutiny process could go ahead as the quorum of two was valid. But they were not willing to listen,” the source added.
The scrutiny of nomination papers would now be held after acting president V K Malhotra appoints a new member/ chairmen of the Pannel.
Meanwhile, Kho Kho Federation of India secretary Suresh Sharma has blasted the Randhir camp for delaying the election process on flimsy reasons. “Election is a democratic process and nobody has the right to stop or discourage the process,” he said.