NEW DELHI: International Hockey Federation president Narinder Batra has filed his nominations for the post of the president as well as senior vice president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), ahead of the deadline of 2 pm on Tuesday.
The upcoming general body meeting (AGM) of the IOA will be held on 14 December and will elect a new set of office bearers for the country’s apex sports body. Batra’s candidature was cleared after the Returning Officer appointed by the IOA to conduct the elections ruled that office bearers and members of the Executive Council elected in 2012 and 2014 can contest for the post of president and secretary general, says a PTI report. 60 year old Batra was as one of the vice-presidents from 2012 to 2014, but he was not a member of the executive council that was elected in February 2014 when India returned to the Olympic fold after a ban of 14 months.
Incumbent president N Ramachandran has decided not to seek a re-election, and treasurer Anil Khanna, who was rumoured to be a possible candidate for the top job has opted to be one of Batra’s seconders.
The IOA had also called for a special general body meeting (SGM) on 29 November to “discuss and interpret” the eligibility criteria for election to the post of president and secretary general ahead of the 14 December polls. The RO’s ruling has settled that issue for now. “The election of the office bearers and members of executive council of the IOA would be held as per the Memorandum and Rules and Regulations of IOA amended upto 8.12.2013 and election bye-laws,” Mendiratta, an advisor to the Election Commission of India, said in the notice.
“For the purpose of clarification, it is made clear that the office bearers and members of the Executive Council elected in AGM in 2012 and 2014, both are entitled to contest for the posts of president and secretary general,” he added.
The International Olympic Committee has told the IOA that the election process should be conducted by an independent Election Commission in line with the election bye-laws established for the last IOA elections in 2014.
