15 sports bodies cleared for Chandigarh Olympic Association elections

The announcement of elections to the next house of the Chandigarh Olympic Association (COA) — a sports body active on political front for decades now — has opened a Pandora’s box. The electoral officer has cleared 15 associations and asked 19 others to submit their documents of validation in the draft electoral roll.

Interestingly, among the 15 approved associations, some members, who are authorised as ‘representatives’ for voting, were either part of two associations or have completed their term as office-bearers of respective bodies in the past.

However, just before the poll announcement, they managed to reguralise their papers and got a ‘crystal clear’ tag either to contest the COA elections or to ensure their influence in it.

In one such case, a former IAS officer was part of two associations till recently. While being an elected office-bearer of one association, he was simultaneously appointed by another association as patron. However, in an interesting turn of events, he resigned from the elected post — tenure of which was till 2026-27 — on September 30, and continued as office-bearer in the other one.

In another case, an official, who had resigned as an office-bearer of the association in 2019, featured in the list of ‘representatives’ for voting. The official has recently been added to the executive of the same association and has got authorisation for voting. The approved list also features some of the associations, which have hardly conducted any state meet in recent times.

Objections invited

As per the schedule, the associations were to submit any objections by October 24. Many associations, who claimed to be part of the COA, didn’t feature in the list and some names were wrongly mentioned in the list, claimed sources. “There are a total of 34 associations, of which some have been asked to submit their documents,” said Khushpreet Kaur, officer-in-charge of the electoral rolls.

Associations listed on IOA website

The following websites have been listed on the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) website: Archery, Athletics, Basketball, Badminton, Bowling, Boxing, Cycling, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Kayaking & Canoeing, Netball, Rowing, Rugby, Rifle (Shooting), Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Wushu, Pentathlon, Ice Hockey, Ice Skating, Luge, Ski & Snowboard, Kabaddi & Golf.

However, the list released by the COA electoral officer features some associations whose parent bodies are not on the IOA list.

The sports associations marked in bold are not part of the IOA list, but were added to the COA list. Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Rugby, Fencing, Gymnastics, Kayaking & Canoeing, Netball, Rifle, Softball, Table Tennis, Weightlifting, Wrestling and Wushu are among the 15 associations cleared by the electoral officer. Among the others who have been asked to furnish documents include Basketball, Baseball, Bowling (10 pin), Cycle Polo, Horse Riding, Football, Handball, Judo, Kabaddi, Kho Kho, Karate, Tennis, Powerlifting, Sepak Takraw, Taekwondo, Throw Ball, Triathlon and Volleyball.