State associations raise objection over election procedure

As per the new constitution, the BCCI elections are to be held on October 22 © AFP

As the BCCI and state association elections are coming close, various state associations have raised objections over the manner in which the process is being carried out. Among the several points of contention is that the rules of procedure for the election, which was to be formed by the general body was formed by the CoA instead.

In a recent turn of events, Sanjay Bhardwaj, a member of DDCA has claimed that the Committee of Administrators are in 'serious violation of Direction No. 38 and 39 [Clause 29, 33 (1), 33 (2) and 45] of the Supreme Court directive of August 9, 2018.

Clause 45 of the direction reads, "These rules and Regulations of the BCCI shall not be repealed, added to, amended or altered except when passed and adopted by a 3/4th majority of the members present and entitled to vote at a special General Meeting of the General Body convened for the purpose or at the Annual General Meeting. Any such amendment will not be given effect to without the leave of the Hon'ble Supreme Court."

In an email sent to the COA, and accessed by Cricbuzz, he has stated, "In the 10th status report submitted by you in the Supreme Court on 28th October 2018, you have allowed many states including DDCA to amend the constitution overlooking the court directions which is a serious violation of Supreme Court orders.

"You are allowing many states to amend their respective constitution and holding elections simultaneously. This is again a serious violation of Supreme Court approved constitution Section no 32."

This is also in line with the contention with several state associations that the procedure of elections to be taking place next month won't be in line with that of the procedure followed by some of the other associations who held their elections in the last few years - and won't be in contention for the upcoming elections. For eg - DDCA, Vidarbha Cricket Association, etc.

Secondly, as per the new BCCI constitution, any amendments to the procedure for the elections have to be done at least three months before the election date - which is not the case, since the procedure itself became official on August 16, 2018 - less than three months from October 22 (the date of the election).

Cricbuzzunderstands that CoA is expecting more hurdles on the way, but is unlikely to change the dates of elections