NEW DELHI: The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA)’s elections, scheduled from October 17 to 20, were cancelled by electoral officer Navin B Chawla on Saturday due to alleged “interference” from general secretary Vinod Tihara, PTI reports.
Tihara had issued an electoral notice to voter-members seeking to “amend the agenda” of the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of which elections are a part.
The decision was taken in the afternoon and Chawla, a former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, issued a notice which effectively means that Rohan Jaitley may have to wait for some time to assume charge.
Jaitley, son of former finance minister late Arun Jaitley was set to become new DDCA president unopposed. Former BCCI acting president CK Khanna’s wife Shashi was runaway favourite to become the treasurer.
“I have been constrained to countermand this election, having received advice from the Ombudsman Justice Deepak Verma, at 1.30 pm today, in view of the wholly irresponsible and illegal actions of the Secretary of the DDCA. All concerned may be informed. Detailed reasons will follow,” Chawla said in his communication to all members, as per PTI.
When asked if there was any idea as to when the elections will now be conducted, Bhardwaj said that will be a call taken by the HC. “The returning officer will apprise the HC about the turn of events and what led to us not being able to hold the elections before October 30 as ordered by the court. Once the HC looks into this, they will tell us about the next date and when and how we can go ahead and complete the election process,” he said.
That the DDCA is arguably the most maladministered cricket body in the country is not saying anything new.
As the Tribune reports, Rohan Jaitley accepts that the financial aspect of DDCA “needs to be cleansed”. He says he is the man to do it, and that he would do it by putting all financial transactions of DDCA in public domain.
But the daily hits the nail on the head when it states: “There’s no denying that he would become DDCA president, at only 31 years old, due to an attribute all politicians and democrats criticise – nepotism.”
