The Hindu : Front Page : Dalmiya declares Ranbir Singh Mahendra elected BCCI president

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 30, 2004

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Front Page

Dalmiya declares Ranbir Singh Mahendra elected BCCI president

By S. Sabanayakan

KOLKATA, SEPT. 29. Ranbir Singh Mahendra of Haryana was today declared elected president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India with the help of the outgoing BCCI president, Jagmohan Dalmiya's casting vote at the 75th Annual General Meeting. S.K. Nair retained the secretary post.

The Mumbai Cricket Association president and Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, polled 15 votes against Mr. Mahendra's 15 to tie the contest. As per the rules governing the BCCI's election, the chairman's casting vote would resolve the tie. Mr. Mahendra, backed by Mr. Dalmiya, got the nod to win the contest 16-15.

Mr. Nair defeated Niranjan Shah of Saurashtra 17-13 while the sitting treasurer, Jyoti Bajpai, was elected unopposed. Gautam Dasgupta of West Bengal defeated Prof. Ratnakar Shetty of Mumbai 16-14 for the joint secretary post.

Earlier, the meeting started after two adjournments late in the evening. The chairman had to sort out the voters from two disputed State associations, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Dyaneshwar Agashe, chairman of the Maharashtra Cricket Association, was not allowed to vote on the ground that he did not have the consent of two court-appointed observers of the MCA. S.G. Thorve, who had also come from Pune, produced a letter from one of the observers, B.G. Deshmukh, which said that Mr. Agashe did not comply with the rules of the High Court ruling. After deliberations in the presence of a legal luminary, Mr. Dalmiya disallowed Mr. Agashe from casting his vote.

There was another problem involving Rajasthan, where Kishore Rungta and Lalit Modi sought to represent the State. Mr. Rungta, who had a letter from the State association president, was allowed while Mr. Modi, who produced an authorisation signed by the joint secretary, was disqualified.

Mr. Mahendra said it was a fair contest.

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