High profile contests in TTFI elections

With the Returning Officer Justice Vineet Saran clearing the decks for the Table Tennis Federation of India elections on December 5, a close contest is in the offing since the two rival panels are cautiously confident.

Representative Image | Photo Credit: Getty Images

With the Returning Officer Justice Vineet Saran clearing the decks for the Table Tennis Federation of India elections on December 5, a close contest is in the offing since the two rival panels are cautiously confident.

Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi is up against Meghna Ahlawat, wife of Haryana’s Deputy Chief Minister and outgoing President Dushyant Chautala in a battle for Presidentship.

Interestingly, both first-timers are not known to be part of table tennis but one of them is set to hold the highest office in the governing body of the sport in the country.

Two Maharashtra-based contenders are in the fray for Secretary General Kamlesh Mehta, an eight-time former National champion and a member of the Maharashtra State Table Tennis Association till recently, will take on Yatin Tipnis, the secretary of the state. After resigning from Maharashtra, Kamlesh is representing Assam in these elections.

For Senior Joint Secretary, Chandigarh’s Harish Kakkar faces Madhya Pradesh’s Pramod Soni. Similarly, it will be a straight contest between P. Nagender Reddy (Telangana) and Ajay Sharma (Jammu & Kashmir) for the next Treasurer.

For the remaining posts, too, keen contests are expected.

Meanwhile, in another development, a petition will come up for hearing in the Delhi High Court on Friday questioning the inclusion of Bhaskar Ram in the list of voters.

As per a Delhi High Court order, no member of the outgoing executive was eligible to take part in these elections. The petitioner has prayed that since Bhaskar Ram was a Vice president in the suspended Executive Committee, his inclusion in the voters’ list would amount to contempt of Court.