KOLKATA: The court-appointed observer, former Calcutta and Allahabad High Court judge Santosh Foujdar, will formally begin the election process of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) here on Wednesday. The elections are slated for July 30 at the B.C. Roy Club House.

The retired judge was closeted for quite some time with the presidential candidates of the two factions, Jagmohan Dalmiya and Prasun Mukherjee, at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday. The two contestants agreed, according to sources in the CAB and Mukherjee camps, to work within the rules and regulations laid down in the CAB constitution.

Mr. Foujdar will start the process by scrutinising the nominations filed by the rival factions. The observer is also expected to go through the list of voters from the 121 affiliated units who will decide the fate of the battle that has raised the tempo to a level never experienced in the recent past.

The sources said Mr. Foujdar would be present during the election but would not interfere, as the chairman of the meeting — Dalmiya — would conduct the proceedings. Only in case of any dispute, the retired judge will step in.

In another development, veteran Trinamul Congress leader and a barrister by profession, Ajit Panja, is said to have signed at the wrong place in the authorisation form to represent his club in the annual general meeting and could possibly lose the chance to vote for High Court Club in the July 30 elections.

Sources in the CAB said that the observer would decide on the issue. In the event of Panja's disqualification, the rival faction headed by Mukherjee would lose a valuable vote.

Dalmiya files suit

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Dalmiya filed a suit in the City Civil court challenging the legality and validity of the Board of Control for Cricket in

India's (BCCI) notice of July 17, asking him to appear before its disciplinary committee in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The former BCCI president decided to move court after his lawyers' letter to the BCCI requesting to defer the date of hearing was not responded to. The BCCI summoned Dalmiya to appear before the three-member disciplinary panel to explain charges of alleged misappropriation of the 1996 World Cup-related accounts and transactions in a Kolkata bank.

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