CHENNAI: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOMs) election turned into one of the most significant one before the final election on December 5. Current IOA president PT Usha lost the SOM election which surprised her camp as well. They were not expecting her to finish fifth. Until about the day of withdrawal, she was supposed to be one of the front-runners for the post of IOA president, but things started to take an expected turn after the withdrawals were finalised.
As of Saturday, Usha was expected to run for the president’s post but with the latest turn of events, London Olympic medallist Gagan Narang is now one of the favourites to run for the top post. Among the four females who have won the SOM election on Monday, Saina Nehwal seems to be in the running for the president’s post.
With Saina already added to the Commonwealth Games organizing committee, it may be unlikely that she would be running for president. One thing that could have irked the Usha team was the way the whole episode was handled.
There have been allegations of unfair elections. But the Returning Officer was pleased with the effort. IOA RO Sanjay Kumar Srivastava said that he followed every rule to the T. He acknowledged that there were complaints on Sunday from both sides – IOA president Usha and the other side where four female SOMs were contesting as New Bharat Panel.
On Sunday night around 7-8pm the RO received complaints from Usha and her opposition. Two sets of complaints were registered. One set of complaints was that a group of four people was formed and they formed a WhatsApp group. He said that some of them were EC members. Secondly, there were allegations that a section was trying to influence voting and asking voters to assemble at certain locations.
The RO said that he issued directives as soon as he heard of those allegations. Srivastava said that he made sure there were no proxy votings and he was open to anyone checking who cast votes for whom. In the meantime, there were WhatsApp messages sent by Dola Bannerjee to vote for the four of them. The RO said that they have a foolproof method of voting and no one could have voted without them knowing their location.
“It was a secret ballot and we maintained the secrecy,” he said, adding that if anyone wanted to check validity they are welcome as records would be available in case of discrepancy. The RO had issued a notice for calling nominations for members attending the general assembly on December 5 where the election would take place. By the look of it, IOA might have new EC members.
The current vice president of the IOA, Gagan, seemed to be the frontrunner from the SOM side for the president’s post. One must also be mindful of the fact that there are quite a few elections left before the IOA one. Also it depends on how the national sports federation acts. There are quite a few names but according to the IOA constitution, SOMs always have a better chance.
For anyone who is eligible to contest election, the person has to be an office bearer for at least one term. Nomination through NSFs also is possible and there are strong candidates including the likes of Badminton Association of India president Himanta Biswa Sarma, Archery association president Arjun Munda and the likes. It needs to be seen if the government would be comfortable with such an arrangement. Then there are the All India Football Federation and Hockey India.
Whatever it is, there will be a wholesale change in the IOA and its executive committee.
