Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi has entered the fray for the post of President of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) despite questions surrounding his membership of the Gujarat State Table Tennis Association.
The eligibility of Sanghvi and four others - eight-time National champion Kamlesh Mehta (Assam), Harish Kumar Kakkar (Chandigarh), Ajay Sharma (J&K) and V. Bhaskar Ram (Andhra) has been questioned by the rival group and the Returning Officer Justice Vineet Saran was expected to give his verdict on Wednesday, the day for scrutiny of the nomination forms.
The objections against Sanghvi and Kamlesh are , as required by section 17, they were not elected members, by the association they represent, in the AGM where the last elections were held. Sanghvi’s name does not appear in the minutes of Gujarat’s last AGM while Kamlesh resigned from Maharashtra via email as recently as November 21.
Ajay Sharma, nominee for the post of treasurer, faces the question that he has not served the stipulated cooling period after being an office-bearer in J&K while Bhaskar Ram, a vice-president in the suspended executive barred by the Delhi High Court from participating in these elections, is in the fray. Harish Kakkar could be disqualified since Government employees are barred from holding any post National Sports Federations.
With many candidates having filed nominations for up to three posts, the picture will be clearer after the scrutiny of nomination papers on Wednesday. Withdrawals of nominations can be made on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the RO ordered the inclusion of Maharashtra in the Electoral College, set aside the plea of Rajasthan for its inclusion and rejected Himachal Pradesh’s request to insert the names of its representatives.
Unlike Rajasthan, Maharashtra was allowed to be part of the election process after the RO was convinced that the state’s representation was sent to the TTFI’s official email address and the originals were handed out to him.
“Besides other averments and assertions, they have given a categorical undertaking that as per the Election Notice dated 23.11.2022, their association undertakes that it will comply fully with the National Sports Code by 21.01.2023.
“Since such undertakings of other associations have also been accepted, I am of the opinion that the same benefit may be extended to the Maharashtra State Table Tennis Association.”
In case of Rajasthan, the RO found that “neither any representation was received on the official email address nor any original has been filed in person. As such, I am of the opinion that photocopies filed cannot be taken into consideration.”
Himachal Pradesh’s request for adding the names of its representatives to the electoral college and substitution of names on applications filed by other associations were rejected by the RO because “once the list in this regard has been finalised on the basis of the names furnished by the respective associations before the issuance of the election notice, any change at this stage would disrupt the process of election.”
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