IOA election to be held on December 5

New Delhi: The high-profile election of the Indian Olympic Association will now be held on December 5, ten days after its earlier scheduled date of November 25 following the resignation of Election Commission Chairman S Y Quraishi. The elections had to be postponed in the wake of dramatic resignation of Quraishi, a former Chief Election Commissioner, citing IOA's backtracking from its earlier commitment to hold the polls under the Government's Sports Code.

The remaining two members of the Commission, Returning Officer Justice V K Bali (Retd) and Justice J D Kapoor (Retd) then postponed the scrutiny of the nomination till appointment of the new chairman of the Commission. IOA then re-constituted the three-member Election Commission and appointed Justice Anil Dev Singh, Retired Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, as its Chairman.

After the meeting of the re-constituted Commission attended by all the members, Justice Bali announced the rescheduled date of the elections. According to the re-schedule of the elections released by Justice Bali, list of nomination received have been displayed at his office. The scrutiny of nominations will be held on November 24 while withdrawal of nominations will be from November 25 to 29. The elections will be held on December 5 from 1400 hrs onwards.

IOA Secretary General Randhir Singh is contesting the election against Abhay Singh Chautala for the president's post while tainted sports administrator Lalit Bhanot is contesting the post of Secretary General against Volleyball Federation of India Secretary General K Murugan and Judo Federation of India General Secretary Mukesh Kumar. The election has witnessed a bitter war of words between the rival factions who have accused each other of trying to stall the election process to garner the required numbers.

The upcoming election is also mired in controversy with the IOC insisting it should be held under the Olympic Charter while the Election Commission has notified that it should be held under the Government's Sports Code following the Delhi High Court order.