CHENNAI: The game of 64 votes is headed for climax. After more than a year of acrimony, during which the president and secretary suspended each other and fought court battles, the All India Chess Federation’s (AICF) elections will be held on Monday.
The online process supervised by court-appointed electoral officer Justice (retd) K Kannan will take place from 11 am to 4 pm. Results are expected by the evening.
Other than being the first election to witness contests in 15 years and a bitter prelude, this year’s battle is significant also because of the contestants. Taking on incumbent PR Venketrama Raja for the post of president is Sanjay Kapoor.
Raja represents Tamil Nadu, which has produced 24 of India’s 66 Grandmasters. Kapoor is the nominee from Uttar Pradesh, a state with no Grandmasters. However, these things do not always matter in sports federation politics.
In AICF, it will come down to what the two voters from each of the 32 units decide.
BS Chauhan of Delhi, sitting secretary and face of the opposition group, is a contender for the post again. Chauhan and Raja crossed swords over many issues in the last 15 months. Maharashtra’s RM Dongre is the candidate for secretary from the Raja faction. There are reports that representatives of 12 state units supporting Chauhan are holing up in a New Delhi hotel. Raja’s supporters are in their respective cities. There are also claims that the Chauhan group will do video recordings of the votes they cast to ensure there is no foul play.
“The company handling the online voting process is from Chennai. We will make videos of the votes our supporters are casting. We have the support of at least 18 units,” said a contestant from the Chauhan group.
“They are saying this because they want to move court on some pretext or the other after losing the elections,” retorted a candidate from the Raja camp, who are saying they have the backing of 18-20 units. Other than president, secretary and treasurer, elections will be held for six vice-presidents and six joint-secretaries.
Insiders are of the opinion that both sides are assured of around 14 votes each. The doubt is over Jharkhand, Odisha, MP and Himachal. The Raja group was claiming their support until recently, but they are not ruling out the possibility of things changing. They also believe that units like Karnataka, which were with Chauhan, will vote for Raja. There is also a chance that from certain units, the two votes will go to opposite sides. The wait to know who prevails is expected to be over before the sun sets on Monday.
Key contestants
President: PR Venketrama Raja (TN) vs Sanjay Kapoor (UP)
Secretary: BS Chauhan (Del) vs RM Dongre (Mah)
Treasurer: Kishor Bandekar (Goa) vs Naresh Sharma (Har)