The Delhi Cricket Council (DCC) Friday swept the poll to the Sports Working Committee of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), throwing out the ruling Vinod Tihara group, by winning all the 10 seats.
The DCC election assumed importance this time, primarily because of a serious rift among the key DDCA office bearers, and the defection of some of the members of the ruling Vindo Tihara group, which ruled the cricket affairs in the capital for eight years.
The members elected to the Sports Working Committee with the number of votes:
Ajeet Singh Madhok (68), Anil Kumar Passi (67), Gautam Vadehra (67), Ramesh Sachdeva (66), Tamim Ahamad (64), Manbir Singh Bhatia (64), Rajeev Malhotra (60), Lalit Sharma (59), N.K. Sharma (59), P.K. Soni (59).
The difference between the votes polled by DCC topper Ajeet Singh and the highest polled by Tihara group candidate Naresh Sharma Tappu (45) was a staggering 23. Tihara finished with 43 votes in an electoral college of 108 clubs.
Madhok, Bhatia, Malhotra and Sachdeva were earlier part of the Tihara camp, but have shifted their allegiance to the DCC, complaining of inactivity of the Sports Committee under Tihara.
Former Delhi cricketer Gautam Vadehra, who spearheaded the DCC election campaign, said the victory of his group was a triumph for truth and sincerity and promised better days for Delhi cricket and its cricketers.
"Truth has triumphed and now I can assure every Delhiite that cricket and cricketers will be the DCC's priority at the Kotla," Vadehra told IANS.
"Cricketer in Delhi need not despair any longer as everything will be transparent. I can promise that no cricketer will be humiliated at the Kotla and all the clubs will be treated with respect, taking care of their interests.
"More important, every cricketer will be given a fair opportunity and the selection will be purely on merit without any prejudice or favouritism. We expect to have a good working relationship with the executive committee of the DDCA and its president Arun Jaitley" he said.
Wadehra, who is now in charge of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), while releasing the DCC manifesto, promised to ring in revolutionary changes to improve the state of Delhi cricket, the DDCA league in particular.