CHENNAI: In a twist in the tale, Gujarat Chess Association president Ajay Patel will not contest against incumbent PR Venketrama Raja for the post of All India Chess Federation (AICF) president. Thursday was the last day of filing nominations. President of UP Chess Association Sanjay Kapoor will be the candidate for president from the faction led by secretary BS Chauhan.
It has been learnt that Raja (Tamil Nadu), RM Dongre (Maharashtra) and Kishor Bandekar (Goa) have filed nominations for president, secretary and treasurer, respectively, from the group headed by Raja. Kapoor, Chauhan (Delhi) and Naresh Sharma (Haryana) are the contestants for these posts from the other camp.
After scrutiny and withdrawal of nominations, electoral officer Justice (retd) K Kannan will release the final list of candidates on December 30. Elections will be held online on January 4.
Patel was Raja's rival in the elections scheduled in February before it got postponed because of legal complications and the pandemic. The Chauhan camp was saying until recently he would contest again.
Although the Raja faction is saying Patel is not contesting because he knows he will not win, that may not necessarily be the case. Gujarat's Bhavesh Patel is a candidate for vice-president from the Chauhan camp, which indicates the latter has the support of this unit.
Moreover, UP was among the 19 state units the Raja camp was banking on. Its president taking on Raja for the top post suggests at least this calculation has gone wrong.
There are 28 state associations, with two votes from each. It's unlikely that two votes from the same association will go to different camps.
Other than three office-bearers, six vice-presidents and six joint-secretaries will be elected.