WFI Elections: 22 of 25 state bodies side with Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, July 30

In a major show of strength, 22 of the 25 state bodies that will take part in the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections have sworn to vote for candidates put up by outgoing president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

As of now we have asked all the voters, 44 of them, to sign on the nomination list. Some of them will file the nomination tomorrow. A source

The delegates were called in for a meet and greet here today and to decide upon the names of the candidates, including that of the new president and secretary general of the federation.

Every state has two representatives on the electoral college list, and all have signed on the nomination papers. It is still unclear as to who will take over from the BJP MP as the new chief.

“As of now we have asked all the voters, 44 of them, to sign on the nomination list. Some of them will file the nomination tomorrow,” a source said.

Monday is the last date of filing nominations for the election as per the notification issued by the Returning Officer, Justice (retd) MM Kumar.

“The real picture of who will contest for the key posts will emerge late in the night,” said another source who attended the meeting.

One person who will not be a part of the new executive is Brij Bhushan’s son-in-law Vishal Singh. It was expected that he would get some post in the new executive. However, after both Brij Bhushan and his son Karan withdrew their names from the electoral roll, Vishal too has decided to not contest.

A few of the members of the state bodies who may have been averse to standing with Brij Bhushan still showed up as a mark of protest against the ad hoc body, which they claim gave affiliation to Himachal Pradesh and Assam in an illegal manner.

“We are here with the federation as we need to teach these people a lesson. They (ad hoc committee) cannot give affiliation like this. Also, they forced a few federations to include names that were not part of the state executive,” said a state president.