CHENNAI: On the eve of the much-awaited elections to the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), around 40 out of 50 eligible voters attended a meeting in a posh hotel in New Delhi on Wednesday. The numbers seem more than enough for the sidelined WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's faction to sweep the polls but the saga is unlikely to end with the elections. Top wrestlers, who launched a protest against Brij Bhushan in January, have called a press conference after the elections adding yet another twist to the chain of events that continued to rock the sport in the country throughout the year.
Even as supporters of Brij Bhushan held a meeting in the evening, former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran, who is contesting for the top post and has the backing of the protesting wrestlers, affirmed her panel is ready to contest for various posts they have filled the nominations for. "We are in the middle of the meeting. We will contest," Anita replied when queried about the way forward.
As per the circular issued by the assistant returning officer Tapas Kumar Bhattacharya, the polling will be held on the 21st December, 2023, in the Basement Hall of the IOA Building at B-29, Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi, from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm and the counting of votes will be taken up from 1:40 pm onwards.
Sanjay Kumar Singh is the presidential candidate from Brij Bhushan's faction. Darshan Lal is contesting for the secretary's post while Satya Pal Singh Deshwal has filed his nomination for treasurer from the faction. Prem Chand Lochab is the secretary's candidate while Dushyant Sharma is in the fray for the treasurer's post from Anita's group.
Article V of the WFI constitution says that the office-bearers of the federation shall be i) President (1), ii) Senior Vice President (1), iii) Vice Presidents (4), iv) Honourary Secretary General (1), v) Honourary Treasurer (1), vi) Honourary Joint Secretaries (2), and vii) Executive Members (5).
While a simple majority will be enough for those seeking a first term, those seeking a second term have to secure not less than two-third of the votes. ID Nanavati and Deshwal are prominent among those seeking re-election with Nanavati contesting for senior vice-president's post from Brij Bhushan's group against Devender Kadyan.
"Around 40 members have reached the national capital and standing firmly behind Brij Bhushan. There are also chances of a few jumping the fence and joining the group. We will win comfortably for all the posts," a member from the Uttar Pradesh strongman's group told this daily.
Among those contesting the elections is Mohan Yadav, who has recently been sworn in as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Yadav, president of the Madhya Pradesh Amateur Wrestling Association, filed his nomination for the post of vice-president from Brij Bhushan's group. He is scheduled to be in New Delhi on Thursday to meet Home Minister Amit Shah but whether he will cast his vote is not clear yet.
Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik along with multiple Worlds medallist Vinesh Phogat launched the protest levelling allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan. Later, the government set up an ad-hoc panel to run the sport in the country after sidelining Brij Bhushan. Later, United World Wrestling, the world governing body, also suspended the WFI throwing the sport in disarray.
Notably, the Punjab & Haryana High Court stayed the election on August 11, a day before the polling was scheduled. The stay had deferred the election for the third time. Earlier, the returning officer had set July 6 as the election date before revising it to July 11. But the Assam association moved the Gauhati High Court and managed to get a stay on the July 11 polls on June 25.