New Delhi, Dec 3 (PTI) There will be a straight two-wayfight between International Hockey Federation presidentNarinder Batra and top tennis official Anil Khanna for thepost of Indian Olympic Association president in the December14 polls.
Indian Weightlifting Federation President BirendraBaishya pulled out of the race, leaving Batra and Khanna, aformer All India Tennis Association chief, in the fray forthe top job.
Baishya will now contest for one of the posts of eightvice-presidents, for which he had also filed his nominationpapers.
After the deadline for the withdrawal of nominationsended today, the Returning Officer S K Mendiratta notified thefinal list of candidates for the elections to be held duringthe IOA's elective Annual General Body Meeting here.
Except for the post of the secretary general, all theothers will have elections with the IOA Electoral College setto vote through secret ballot.
Incumbent secretary general Rajeev Mehta will be re-elected for his second four-year term as he was the lonecandidate to have filed the nomination papers.
Jharkhand Olympic Association chief R K Anand will have astraight fight against former Kabaddi Federation of Indiapresident Janardhan Singh Ghelot for the lone post of seniorvice-president after incumbent Virendra Nanavati withdrew hiscandidature.
Virendra Nanavati will now contest for one of the postsof eight vice-presidents, for which he had also filed hisnomination papers.
There will be a three-cornered contest for the post oftreasurer as none among Anandeshwar Pandey, Mukesh Kumar andRakesh Gupta withdrew their candidature.
For the eight posts of vice-presidents, 12 remained inthe fray, including the likes of Athletics Federation of Indiapresident Adille Sumariwalla, Luge Federation of India chiefKaran Chautala and former BJP National Council memberSudhanshu Mittal.
BJP's senior minister in Assam government, Himanta BiswaSarma and veteran sports administrator Tarlochan Singhwithdrew their candidature for the vice-president's post.
Meanwhile nine candidates are left in the fray for thesix posts of joint secretaries while 15 will contest for the10 other members of the Executive Council to be elected at theIOA Headquarters here on December 14.
Earlier in the day, Mendiratta, also a legal advisor tothe Election Commission of India, reviewed his decision toreject the nominations of Devendranath Sarangi (for vice-president) and K Rajendiran (for Executive Council member) andre-instated them as candidates.
"The nomination papers of Devendranath Sarangi (forvice-president) and K Rajendiran (for Executive Councilmember) were rejected at the time of scrutiny of nominationson 30/11/2017 as the same were not accompanied with therequisite undertaking/declaration.
"However, on inquiry fromthe office of the IOA it was revealed that the intendingcandidates were not intimated about this requirement,"Mendiratta said.
The polls on December 14 will see observers from theInternational Olympic Committee, the Olympic Council from Asiaand the Sports Ministry in attendance.
The total member of the electoral college members is 184,including two IOA Athletes Commission members -- P T Usha andRajeev Tomar. Out of these, 116 are from the National SportsFederations and remaining from the state Olympic associations.
Each NSF has maximum of three voters while each stateOlympic unit has two voters. PTI PDS AHAH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.