MUMBAI: The much-awaited elections of the Mumbai Cricket Association will take place on October 20, after having been shifted from their original date of September 28. On Monday, the MCA-appointed election officer Jagesh Saharia formally notified (TOI has a copy of the communication) to the MCA the timeline of the association's elections.
The polls for the 5 posts of the office-bearers and 9 Councillors of the Apex Council will be held from 3-6pm on October 20. The counting and declaration of results of the MCA elections will take place immediately on completion of the polling procedure. So far, former India batsman Sandeep Patil has expressed his interest in contesting for the MCA president's post, while it remains to be seen if anyone amongst former MCA president Ashish Shelar or current MCA vice-president Amol Kale will throw their hat in the ring.
On Monday, the names of representatives from the member clubs and from the former international players will be invited.
The final electoral list of representatives and former international players will be released on October 4. The candidates can file nominations from October 6-10. The valid candidates will be announced on October 11, after scrutiny on the same date. Candidates can withdraw their nominations till 5pm on October 15. The final list of contesting candidates, after completion of withdrawal of nominations, will be announced on October 14.
"Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in these rules, no person who is an employee of MCA, BCCI, IPL and Mumbai Indians - IPL franchisee and Garware Club House, either on regular or on contractual basis except any office bearer, selector, coach, umpire and player elected, appointed or selected by the MCA/BCCI, will be eligible to vote or be elected to the Council or continue as the member of the Apex Council in any capacity," mentioned Saharia in his notification.
Family withdraws Mahaddalkar's name from group
The powerful Pawar-Bal Mahaddalkar group has withdrawn Bal Mahaddalkar's name from the group, upon the Mahaddalkar family's request, and will be called as the Sharad Pawar group now. In a communication to the group's senior member PV Shetty, the Mahaddalkar family members Satyajit Vanikar, Madhavi Vanikar and Monisha Mahaddalkar wrote: "At the outset we thank you indeed to accede to our request of withdrawing "Mahaddalkar" name from the group. It's 21 years past his demise now and even late Mrs Mahaddalkar was also in agreement for a long time to withdraw his name. We'll always be thankful and grateful to all the members of the group for the hardwork and dedication in retaining the goodwill and pride of the Mahaddalkar group. Our respect and appreciation would always remain for everyone involved in this long journey. Kindly convey our feelings to everyone in the group. We congratulate the new group and wish all the success and good luck for the future endeavours."
The group, which has a substantial number of votes in the 379-member MCA (329 clubs and 50 former players), was split earlier this month when its leader Ravi Sawant staged a walkout from a meeting to finalise the candidates for the elections.
