C P Joshi beats Ruchir Modi to become RCA president

The only consolation for the Modi camp was the victory of Rajendra Singh Nandu, who is believed to be a staunch supporter of Lalit Modi.

It was a sweet revenge for senior congressman Joshi, who had to withdraw from the election against Lalit Modi the previous year after he was deserted by his own supporters.

Congress leader C P Joshi has pipped Ruchir Modi, son of former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, to become president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA).

Although the RCA polls were held on May 29, the results were declared only today as per the orders of the High Court. Joshi won with a 19-14 margin.

The ballot boxes were kept in government treasury before being brought to the RCA academy, where after a long drama, the results were announced by election officer A K Pandey.

It was rather on expected lines that former president Joshi emerged much stronger than Modi, the latter was backed by his father Lalit, who was expelled from the BCCI and is currently in exile owing to money laundering charges pressed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

It was also a sweet revenge for senior congressman Joshi, who had to withdraw from the election against Lalit Modi the previous year after he was deserted by his own supporters.

The only consolation for the Modi faction was that the post of secretary went to Rajendra Singh Nandu, who is believed to be a staunch supporter of Lalit Modi. He beat Mahendra Sharma 17-16 by cross voting.

Another Modi supporter, Pinkesh Jain, beat Azad Singh 18-15 margin for the post of treasurer.

The vice-president seat went to Mohammad Iqbal, also a Congress man, who beat Ram Prakash Choudhary 19-14 while Mahendra Nahar, also of the Joshi faction, emerged victorious against Shatrughan Tiwari 18-15.

The post of executive member went to K K Nimawat, who got the better of Ramesh Gupta 19-14.

The RCA bore the brunt for electing Lalit Modi as its president when the BCCI suspended the state body. The apex governing body for cricket in India had warned that the suspension would continue till Lalit Modi was removed from the primary bodies at RCA.

Despite the warnings, Lalit Modi hung on to the post of president of Nagaur District Association.

The districts approached Joshi to provide them the umbrella they needed to put the state cricket on track. However, it can’t be denied that Lalit Modi, who came to power after beating the Rungtas in 2005, had done a tremendous service to Rajasthan cricket by creating great infrastructures.