CHENNAI: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) election is turning out to be quite interesting. Nominations were finally filed on the last day on Friday. There are former players with political affiliations and leanings and there are sports administrators and officials in fray too. Among the names doing the rounds are former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia, former goalkeeper Kalyan Chaubey, a BJP leader in West Bengal, administrator Shaji Prabhakaran, Ajit Banerjee from Indian Football Association and Eugeneson Lyngdoh, an MLA with the United Democratic Party, Meghalaya.
According to reports from Karnataka State Football Association, NA Haris, who happens to be a local Congress MLA, too filed his nominations. Then there is late Jaswant Singh’s son Manavendra Singh from Rajasthan too.
Bhutia, whose name was proposed and seconded by players, could have been a strong candidate but the list suggests things will not be easy. Take for instance, Chaubey. A BJP leader from Bengal who filed nomination from Gujarat State Football Association and was seconded by Arunachal Pradesh seem to have an edge.
Also the Supreme Court will be hearing a case pertaining to FIFA suspension of AIFF over third-party interference because of the appointment of Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Monday. Bhutia is on the electoral college as one of the 36 eminent players, a clause opposed by FIFA because it constitutes 50 per cent of the electoral college. Despite objections, the CoA went ahead with the contentious clause.
As of now, the current electoral college has 33 state units and it is understood that after the FIFA suspension, there were indications that the election with be conducted with the state units. According to a CoA statement: “In the discussions held among the FIFA-AFC, AIFF, CoA, and the sports ministry in the past few days, it was suggested that the present elections of the AIFF Executive Committee may be conducted with the Electoral College consisting of 36 state representatives.”
The FIFA had also mentioned in its letter that the CoA is considered as ‘third party intervention’. It needs to be seen what SC would say on Monday, the date of next hearing. For India, hosting the U-17 women’s World Cup is a priority and it can be held only when AIFF gets its recognition back. Since the SC has not said anything on the election on Wednesday, the process that was laid down on August 3 continues.