Dalmiya set to return as BCCI president

Chennai, March 1
Veteran cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya is all set to return unopposed as BCCI president more than a decade after he last held the top job, emerging as the consensus candidate from incumbent N Srinivasan’s camp.
The road for Dalmiya was cleared after another former president Sharad Pawar failed to get a proposer from east zone, prompting the Maharashtra strongman to pull out of the race ahead of the much-anticipated and much-delayed Annual General Meeting.
Three vice presidents set to be elected unopposed at the AGM here tomorrow are Andhra’s Gokaraju Gangaraju (south zone), Assam’s Goutam Roy (east) with ML Nehru of Jammu and Kashmir representing the north zone.
Elections will be held for the posts of secretary, joint secretary and treasurer. Incumbent secretary Sanjay Patel, a known Srinivasan loyalist, will be up against Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association’s Anurag Thakur, who will be representing the Pawar group.
Jharkhand State Cricket Association chief Amitabh Choudhary will lock horns with Chetan Desai of Goa for the post of joint secretary, while Haryana Cricket Association boss Anirudh Chaudhry is pitted against current BCCI vice president and Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association secretary Rajeev Shukla.
Election for the two remaining vice president posts from central and west zone will see Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia taking on CK Khanna with Mumbai’s Ravi Sawant facing Baroda’s Samarjit Singh Gaekwad.
It was also learnt that MP Pandove withdrew his nomination for the post of vice president from north zone.
The 70-year-old Dalmiya, president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), controls two votes from east zone and had yesterday emerged as a front-runner for the top post since no other name was unanimously acceptable to all the units loyal to Srinivasan.
Dalmiya’s bid got a boost today after Pawar failed to get any proposer from the east zone, whose turn it is to nominate the president.
All the six state units from the east zone owed allegiance to the Srinivasan camp as his loyalists met here today.
“Since this is the turn of east zone, Dalmiya has both the proposer and seconder from east. The nomination was today at 3pm,” BCCI sources said.
Pawar, who was projected as possible candidate for the president’s post, flew into the city yesterday and held a meeting with his supporters. Former BCCI president Shashank Manohar also arrived here for the AGM.
Dalmiya’s elevation to the position has been necessitated by Srinivasan being forced to stay away from the election owing to a Supreme Court directive. Srinivasan can only vote during tomorrow’s electoral process. — PTI