The full members of the East Zone – Cricket Association of Bengal, Jharkhand Cricket Association, Odisha Cricket Association, Tripura Cricket Association, Assam Cricket Association and the National Cricket Club, Kolkata – have the right to nominate candidate/s for the post of the BCCI president following the resignation of Shashank Manohar.
Seven months ago, the East Zone members had made a unanimous choice of Manohar as a replacement for Jagmohan Dalmiya at an AGM in Mumbai. Dalmiya was elected BCCI president for the second time in Chennai on March 2, 2015 at an AGM which was scheduled to have been held in the last week of September 2014, but was postponed by five months because of court matters.
I n normal course, a president elected in the last week of September 2014 (according to the amended bylaws – 15 (i) Rules and Regulations – would have completed a three-year term in the last week of September 2017. With Dalmiya’s passing (September 21, 2015) and Manohar’s resignation (May 10, 2016), the BCCI is facing a peculiar situation of being asked to elect a third president in 16 months.
According to the BCCI Rules and Regulations –15 (v) “In case of vacancy occurring in the office of President by reason of death or by him being adjudged insolvent or by him being convicted in a criminal case by a competent Court or by resignation or otherwise, The Hon. Secretary shall within fifteen days convene a Special General Body Meeting to elect the President who shall be nominated by at least one Full Member from the zone which proposed the name of the President whose term was cut short prematurely. Such person who is so elected shall hold office till the next elections.”
The rules and regulations also clarify that such candidate or candidates need not be from the same zone that is exercising its right of nomination by rotation.
The anomaly here is that while a candidate requires two full members from a particular zone to nominate him in order to enter the election fray at an annual general meeting (AGM), a candidate requires only one full member to nominate him for filling a vacancy. The candidate though should have been a past or present office-bearer or vice-president of the Board and must have attended two AGMs representing a full member.
With no order coming from the Supreme Court with regard to the Reforms in Cricket as recommended by the Justice R. M. Lodha Committee, the BCCI members assume that the newly elected president will be in office till September 2017.
The news on the grapevine is that former BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla, IPL Chairman and a long time BCCI member, has been talking to East Zone members for his nomination. Perhaps Shukla’s luck will depend on what Jaitley says. The BJP got into action to get Thakur as secretary against the N. Srinivasan candidate Sanjay Patel. If people are to be believed, Thakur was indeed offered the post of president at the Chennai AGM (March 2). He did not accept it. Perhaps he’s keen to become one; and if he does so, who will be the BCCI Secretary? The fact is that the BCCI’s basket is virtually empty.
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