CHENNAI: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) election process has started and two different rosters have been published already. The Athletes Commission nominations too are over and the final Sportsperson of Outstanding Merit (SOMs) has been published on Thursday. By December 5, a new president will be elected. As the country's most followed sports election, one man who has a huge responsibility under his shoulder is the Returning Officer — Sanjay K Srivastava, a former election commissioner. Though he is an expert in conducting elections across the country, IOA's is a specific election with a set number of electorates involving sportspersons and sports administrators.
During a conversation with this newspaper, the former election commissioner (Delhi and UT) spoke about why he took up this job and how he is coping with the challenges of the job. He knows that this election needs a different kind of approach. But when it comes to modalities, conducting elections is usually the same. Selecting names for Athletes Commission and SOMs had its own challenges too but it was navigated according to the rules. Like he said, the good thing was that rules were laid out. One thing that still seems to be under scrutiny is the voting for SOMs. Srivastava said that they tried to reply to all who had any query and were very sympathetic to the sportspersons even if they were ineligible. He hopes that the election ends smoothly.
The IOA elections are different from the ones he had conducted earlier. The former CEC of Delhi and Chandigarh has gone through the rules of the IOA as well as the constitution. "It is definitely different," he told this daily from Delhi. "If you look at the reach, the electoral college is smaller. Generally, when we conduct elections, we deal with a large population, such as in wards or in Lok Sabha elections. But the IOA is specific. Its electoral college consists of a limited number of people with specific qualifications — whether they are members of a national sports federation (NSFs) or star athletes or Outstanding Sportspersons of Merit or eminence. So, the qualifications make it a very specific election for a specific purpose, though the basic rules are almost the same. The basic rules of elections apply here too."
So what prompted him to take this job? He said that after the government of India brought in the concerned acts — the National Sports Governance Act/Rules framework — they approached him (to be part of the RO list). "Since I was one of the eligible persons, the IOA approached me to take on this responsibility regarding election requirements," he said. "I thought it was an interesting assignment because the IOA concerns the entire country's sports management, projections, and future initiatives, with all federations affiliated with it. It is a very important body for the country and for all of us."
On the two rosters — Athletes Commission and the SOMs — which has been published recently, he said all rules were followed to the T. "In the rosters, there were specific requirements, and applicants were supposed to submit certain information by a particular date with their nomination forms," he said. "Some might have found problems, but fundamentally, sports that are not Olympic sports cannot be part of the SOM. For the IOA, the federation concerned must be affiliated and it must be an Olympic sport. For example, kabaddi and wushu are not Olympic sports. Therefore, those nominations could not be considered — we didn't reject them, as rejection isn't the right word, but they weren't considered. We gave reasons and replied to most of those who appealed so they wouldn't be left in the dark. If someone isn't selected, people feel agitated and upset, so we tried to address that transparently. There were some challenges where candidates fell into the same age-group tier, requiring us to select the senior-most person based on age."
He said that there must have been around 140 or so — but definitely not less than 120 — applicants. However, many were not eligible and some had only played inter-school sports. "Even so, we welcome their enthusiasm and desire to be part of the IOA body," he said.
An interesting new experience for him in sports administration? "It is very interesting," he said. "As a returning officer, my work is easy because the rules are very clear. In the Election Commission, there is a lot of freedom and inherent power where they can make rules. But here, the rules are given to us. For example, some people said wushu is a very good sport and played in China, why isn't it included? We said we are only doing this for Olympic sports. If it becomes an Olympic sport, we will naturally take it. Kho-kho applicants also applied, but the purpose is to create an IOA executive body, not because kho-kho isn't important, but because it doesn't fit that specific Olympic purpose."
Srivastava lauded the rules that have been made in quick time too. "Even though these rules were made quickly, they are quite good," he said. "When rules are made, you only discover new things after the first implementation. The IOA and ministry may have important roles, but once elections are declared, their active role reduces because they act as enablers. Within the RO role, everything is defined, and you work within those rules as the sole authority. Unless something needs to be referred to an ethics committee, we handle it."
