Mumbai Cricket Association to hold election on September 28

“We have initiated the election process. All the members will be duly informed. The member clubs will be asked to submit their representatives by September 5,” MCA secretary Sanjay Naik said.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: An aerial view of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has decided to go ahead with its election on September 28, with the apex council on Tuesday initiating the election process.

“We have initiated the election process. All the members will be duly informed. The member clubs will be asked to submit their representatives by September 5. The appointment of the election officer will be formalised in a couple of days and he will start the due process as per the constitution,” Sanjay Naik, MCA secretary, said after the apex council meeting.

The MCA on August 5 had issued the notice to conduct the deferred AGM on September 13. However, on August 20, Naik circulated a single-point agenda for Tuesday’s emergent meeting to “apprise the members about holding the forthcoming elections”.

Sportstar understands the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hierarchy, through representatives of a few influential associations across zones, had reached out to its MCA counterparts about postponing the election. The Supreme Court is likely to hear the pending applications of proposed amendments in the constitution of the BCCI and state associations next month.

“There are various pleas in the Supreme Court pending hearing with regard to (constitutional) amendments. If there is an order before the election day favouring the association, it will benefit those in the election. But we are not waiting for the hearings, we are going ahead with the election,” Naik said.

Sensing the reluctance of going ahead with the election, a group of five apex council members - led by treasurer Jagdish Achrekar - wrote a letter to the MCA president Vijay Patil ahead of the meeting.

The letter - signed by Abhay Hadap, Ajinkya Naik, Gaurav Payyade and Kaushik Godbole, besides Achkrer, and accessed by Sportstar - appealed to fellow members to ensure apex council’s decisions are “held in compliance and not in contravention” of MCA’s rulebook.

Besides, Sportstar understands that an office-bearer of a southern state association tried convincing his Mumbai counterpart on Tuesday afternoon to defer the election. But once the dissent to the move was recorded, the apex council had no choice but to proceed with the election as planned.