Former India player Ashish Ballal alleged that the Hockey Karnataka electoral college for the upcoming Executive Committee elections scheduled on September 8 – ahead of the Hockey India elections in October – has been tampered with.
Ballal’s nomination as a representative of Hockey Udupi – along with P. Anusuya Bai – was sent on Sunday by the district association president Niranjan Chiplunkar and secretary Ravindra Kumar. But Ballal’s and Anusuya Bai’s names don’t figure in the electoral college published on Wednesday and instead has the names of S. Kanchan Prasad and Prabhavathi Shetty.
“We don’t even know who they are,” claimed Ballal, on Thursday. “There are multiple district associations whose representatives are unknown and nobody knows who recommended them. There are some units which are not even registered bodies.
“Their inclusion is the current establishment’s ploy to secure votes. But we want a fair and transparent electoral process. In the interest of hockey, we are ready to even take the legal route,” Ballal added.
Nagarjuna Reddy, president of Hockey Bellary, whose name figures in the electoral college, said he wanted to join the “good fight.” He said: “We have been correctly represented. But we want the process to be fair for all.”
However, Hockey Karnataka secretary A.B. Subbaiah said that Ballal’s nomination was rejected because the district association, which sent the nomination, was disaffiliated earlier this year and a new leadership was brought in its place.
“Firstly, his nomination papers reached us late. Secondly, Hockey Udupi was completely inactive. Neither have they conducted any tournaments nor have they attended any meetings. So, we had no choice but to disaffiliate them and create a new one. That’s what we did a few others who weren’t active.”
Ballal countered: “How is that associations like Hockey Bangalore Urban weren’t disaffiliated? They have conducted no tournaments. We have written to Hockey Karnataka seeking explanation, but have received none so far.”
