Abhay Singh Chautala has been elected as the President of the Indian Olympic Association while Lalit Bhanot has been elected as the Secretary General on Friday. Virendra Nanavati is the new Senior Vice-President and N Ramachandran the Treasurer.
The IOA polls were scheduled for December 5, but with Randhir Singh and his supporters having withdrawn from the polls for all posts, the top four posts were filled up without any elections.
The International Olympic Committee Ethics Commission had recommended to the IOA that CWG scandals’ tainted officials like Suresh Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and V K Verma cannot be part of the Olympic movement and should not be allowed to contest the elections. Yet, Bhanot was elected unopposed despite serious objections from the IOC.
Both Chautala and Bhanot have court cases pending against them because they haven’t followed the Olympic charter to carry out their election.
“Even before presenting ourselves before the IOC, we are declaring the IOA office-bearers as having been elected. So why go at all? There is no point in saying anything before the IOC. They will in any case, suspend India and we can sit at home and be happy,” said Randhir Singh, who was on his way back to Chandigarh from Patiala where he had gone for the opening ceremony of the Asian Shotgun Championship and Grand Prix.
“And whom are they sending? Narendra Batra and R R Anand, a lawyer ? Batra represents Hockey India and there is a case about its formation and recognition in the Supreme Court. So how can he be a true representative of the IOA? Batra was the one who raised the issue of government guidelines against KPS Gill. I am really shocked at the turn of things. We are hell bent on disgracing ourselves,” Randhir added, who is the IOC Member from India.
“We cannot bypass the Olympic charter as IOA name was given to us by the IOC. We could have still avoided suspension by the IOC had we called off the elections.
“I had asked the acting president of IOA, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, not to hold the elections. The IOC has clearly said that they will not recognise the election results in the current scenario. What was the hurry?” Randhir wondered.