NEW DELHI: Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) upcoming elections on December 10 has taken an interesting political twist with ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) heavyweight and Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, emerging as a strong contender for the president’s post.
On Monday, the returning officer (RO) for IOA’s elections, Umesh Sinha, published the electoral college after receiving the nominations from national sports federations (NSFs) of their two (one male and one female) member representatives who can vote and contest for an office-bearer’s post in the new executive council (EC).
Sarma has been nominated by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) as its male nominee, while Alaknanda Ashok is the female nominee. Sarma, who is a prominent BJP face in the Northeast, has been the president of the BAI since 2017. Sarma’s entry has effectively ruled out the possibility of BAI’s vice president and the Indian badminton team’s chief national coach, Pullela Gopichand, contesting for the IOA’s president post.
The electoral college has names of several BJP politicians who have been at the helm of their respective sports federations as national presidents. Archery Association of India (AAI) has nominated its chief and union minister of tribal affairs, Arjun Munda, as its male nominee. MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (Wrestling Federation of India) and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Kumar Jain (All India Tennis Association) are the other nominees.
Then there are people having close links with the ruling dispensation such as SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh (Boxing Federation of India), Kalyan Chaubey (All India Football Federation) and Ajay Patel, chairman of Gujarat State Co-operative Bank and Ahmedabad District Co-Operative Bank (National Rifle Association of India).
In total, IOA’s electoral college will consist of 77 voters (66 NSF votes (33 male nominee and 33 female nominee), eight sportspersons of outstanding merit (SOM), two members elected and nominated by the athletes commission with voting rights – Gagan Narang and P V Sindhu – and IOC member in India, Nita Ambani.
The Handball Association of India (HAI) has alleged that its voting rights have been taken away unfairly after the RO approved the application of its rival, Handball Federation of India (HFI), as part of the electoral college. The HAI is recognised by both its international and Asian sports bodies. The government’s sports code and the IOA’s draft constitution as prepared by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice L Nageswara Rao, clearly states that in the case of any dispute, the NSF which has the recognition of the international body will be granted the voting rights in the IOA elections. Both HAI and HFI aren’t recognised by the sports ministry.
On Monday, the HAI wrote to Justice Rao requesting him to review his November 3 order granting eligibility to the HFI as a government-recognised NSF. “It’s pertinent to mention here that the grounds raised in the said application inter alia are that a wrong submission was made by the HFI to the effect that HFI is recognised by the government of India, which is incorrect. The HFI is not recognised by the concerned international federation and it’s only the HAI which is recognised by the international handball federation and Asian handball federation,” HAI secretary general Tejraj Singh said.
The applications of both the disputed taekwondo federations — Taekwondo Federation of India (TFI) and Indian Taekwondo (IT) — have been rejected by the RO because of their non-affiliation to the sports ministry as a recognised NSF. The nominations received from the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) and Yachting Association of India (YAI) have also not been included in the electoral college, as they are associate members of the IOA. The nominations for the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) and Judo Federation of India (JFI) have been accepted as being sent by the court-appointed administrators who have been authorised to run the affairs of these NSFs.
