Indian Golf Union elections postponed after Returning Officer resigns

In an email to governing council members on Thursday, IGU president Brijinder Singh cited “unavoidable circumstances” for the postponement.

Representative Image: “Due to unavoidable circumstances beyond our control, it has become necessary to postpone the Annual General Meeting and elections of IGU scheduled on 15 December 2024,” wrote IGU president Brijinder Singh in an email to governing council members. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Indian Golf Union (IGU) elections, scheduled for December 15, have been postponed indefinitely following the resignation of Returning Officer OP Garg.

In an email to governing council members on Thursday, IGU president Brijinder Singh cited “unavoidable circumstances” for the postponement.

“Due to unavoidable circumstances beyond our control, it has become necessary to postpone the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elections of IGU scheduled on 15 December 2024,” Singh wrote.

“It is hereby resolved that the AGM and Elections of IGU originally scheduled for 15 December 2024 be and is hereby postponed till further notice,” he added.

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The decision follows Garg’s resignation as Returning Officer after a controversial reversal of his earlier order barring five state associations from participating in the polls.

On Monday, Garg had declared the Himachal Pradesh Proam Golf Association, Arunachal Pradesh Golf Association, Madhya Prant Golf Association, Nagaland Golf Association, and Sikkim State Golf Association “virtually non-existent.” However, on Wednesday, Garg reinstated the five associations after representatives, including Lt Gen Bhavnish Kumar, Brig Atul Rajput, Col Gaurav Verma, and IGU Honorary Secretary Sunil Shetty, presented documents confirming compliance with IGU norms.

IGU president Singh expressed shock over the reversal.

“You are passing one order today, you cannot pass another order tomorrow,” Singh told PTI.

“I wanted to meet him today but before that, the previous evening, the top brass of Delhi Army, and army senior officials and Mr Harish Shetty, Hon’ry Treasurer, who’s standing for President had gone to meet him, and they have coerced him or so it appears into releasing another order.

“We told him, in any way, you cannot reverse your order but he said ‘I don’t want to continue, I want to resign and this is my final decision’. He gave the files back to Harish Shetty and in front of 10 people, he said, I am resigning. So we passed the resolution to postpone the election.”

Singh said it might take three to four months to hold the elections.

“It’s a good thing because now we are going to go and personally visit each SGA to see if they exist or not. No more paper, no more photos. It may take 3 to 4 months; we are going to make a small committee and distribute them to 31 states,” Singh said.

“So we will personally go and check whether there’s a golf course or not, or they will check whether their whole system exists or not. We’ll clean it up.”