Sharad Pawar elected new BCCI President
by Ajitha Menon

     Kolkata: Union Agriculture Minister and Mumbai Cricket Association chief Sharad Pawar will be the next president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The Pawar camp has won 20 votes while the Ranbir Singh Mahendra camp managed to win 11 votes polled at the 76th Annual General Body (AGM) meeting of the BCCI, which was held at the Taj Bengal Hotel here, the observer to the elections said. Mahendra had defeated Pawar in the last election. Pawar's office-bearers are Niranjan Shah, MP Pandove and N Srinivasan. Shah will be Secretary, Pandove will be Joint Secretary and Srinivasan will be Treasurer. Addressing media persons after the election, Pawar said that his immediate task will be to improve the basic infrastructure of cricket in the country. "I'd like to promise cricket lovers of this country that this new body will give full support and strength to the younger generation and also concentrate to develop basic infrastructure for cricket throughout India," said Pawar. "I'm also expecting full cooperation from Ranbir Singh Mahendra outgoing president and his entire team who effectively took the responsibility to handle BCCI matters for the past one year," he added.

    Voting for the new office-bearers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) began at the Taj Bengal Hotel at 12 p.m. The AGM was earlier convened at 11.30 a.m. The four posts up for grabs are that of the President, the Secretary, the Joint Secretary and the Treasurer. Those contesting for the post of President were Ranbir Singh Mahendra (Haryana) and Sharad Pawar (Mumbai). Niranjan Shah (Saurashtra) and Goutam Dasgupta (Bengal) contested for the post of Secretary of the Board. M.P. Pandove (Punjab) and Brijesh Patel (Karnataka) contested for the Jt. Secretary's post and Jyoti Bajpai (Uttar Pradesh) and N. Srinivasan (Tamil Nadu) contested for the post of Treasurer. Supporters of the Dalmiya camp are staying at the Taj Bengal Hotel, while the rival Pawar camp supporters are putting up at the Oberoi Hotel. The two camps contested for 31 votes in all, out of which, the Pawar camp had earlier claimed that it had 16 in its grasp already and expects three to four additional votes coming its way. The Dalmiya camp had already trumpeted its victory, but to keep itself in the loop, Dalmiya has threatened to move to the Supreme Court on the issue of empowerment by Krishnamurthy to Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association official Rajendra Zar to represent that association in the polls. "We have not seen him attending any BCCI AGM before," Dalmiya told reporters here. "Since he (Zar) is unknown to the Board, we will certainly take this matter to the Supreme Court, if necessary," he threatened.

    The die was meticulously cast for Tuesday's crucial elections to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which earlier appeared to be heading for a nail-biting finish. With Krishnamurthy retaining the casting vote of the president of the AGM in case of a tie, the Dalmiya camp could claim a thin edge at the hustings. But Dalmiya cant afford to rest easy because the Maratha leader is reaching the City late Monday with a truckload of tricks to undo any calculation Dalmiya may devise to prevent a last-minute defection from his camp. "We have the requisite numbers and we have no worries," declared IS Bindra, a formidable Pawar man, shortly after Dalmiya met newsmen to explain his points. The BCCI's patron in chief didn't appear nervous, but given that the top leadership of the Congress party has thrown its weight behind Pawar, the Dalmiya regime might come to an end. Contesting against Pawar for the post of the BCCI chief is incumbent Ranbir Singh Mahendra, while Niranjan Shah (Pawar camp) has submitted his nomination for the post of secretary. Pitted against Shah is Goutam Dasgupta. Another Pawar man fighting for the post of joint secretary is M P Pandov while the Dalmiya group has fielded Brijesh Patel against him. As for the post of treasurer, N Srinivasan will fight it out against Jyoti Bajpai of the Dalmiya faction. According to observers, of the 30 affliates that will vote, representatives from Andhra, Goa, Assam and Madhya Pradesh are considered fence-sitters and could make the difference. The Congress top brass is reported to have issued a 'whip' to several state units to vote for Union Agriculture Minister Pawar. Dalmiya's ire stems from the fact that Krishnamurthy dismissed the candidature of Anurag Thakur, close to the Dalmiya camp. Nevertheless, he hailed the system of coming out with a voters' list a day prior to the BCCI election, which has never been done before.