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Pawar faction staying in different hotel to prevent horse-trading

It’s all about numbers — BCCI elections drama unfolds in Kolkata; all eyes on voters’ list to be announced in Kolkata on Monday.

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KOLKATA: All the eyes are on the voters' list. After a day of marathon arguments, counter arguments, claims and counter claims, the contesting parties are awaiting the word from observer TS Krishnamurthy. He is expected to release the voters' list anytime by Monday morning. The voters' list assumes significance as the fate of Ranbir Singh Mahendra and Sharad Pawar will be known by the list.

Till Sunday, none of the aspiring candidates had filed nominations, although both announced their panels. Besides Mahendra, Gautam Dasgupta (secretary). Jyoti Bajpai (treasurer) and Brijesh Patel (joint secretary)  form the Dalmiya panel.

The Sharad Pawar faction is led by the MCA president who will be contesting for the president's post. Niranjan Shah (secretary), MP Pandov (joint secretary) and N Srinivasan (treasurer) are the contestants of his panel.

"We have sufficient numbers," said Dasgupta, expressing confidence that he would be the next secretary.

Meanwhile, the Sharad Pawar faction sprang a surprise by staying away from the hotel which has been the venue of the BCCI AGM. The Pawar group members claimed that they wanted to stay in a different hotel because of 'logistical' reasons but it is believed that the change of place was necessitated out of their fear of horse trading.

Pawar, who seems to be ahead on the number game, wants to keep its flock together and not expose his supporters to the danger.

"We've not confined them in the hotel. They are free to move. We wanted a different hotel because we don't want to operate from a place where our rival group members have easy access," said IS Bindra, president of the Punjab CA and also a key Pawar aide. Lalit Modi, another member of the Pawar camp, went to the extent of saying that their members had faced problems from the CAB during the BCCI AGM in September. Claims notwithstanding, the Dalmiya camp looked a distinct minority. Barely a few members were visible on his side. Although all members were yet to come, Brijesh Patel, Amitav Chaudhary, Jyoti Bajpai were visible from his camp.

Dalmiya himself was not to be seen. He was closeted with the observer. Election watchers believe, despite the number crunch, Dalmiya would still be able to deliver a masterstroke.

The following votes are disputed. Vijay Tagore explains why


President's vote

The argument against the chairman's vote, who is the president of the BCCI, is that he should not be allowed to cast his vote as the chairman of the AGM and also exercise his casting vote. The Sharad Pawar faction contends that in the 2004 election, Jagmohan Dalmiya gave two votes when the election was 15-14 for Pawar. Dalmiya apparently gave his chairman's vote and exercised his casting vote too. This was argued before the BCCI observer in Chennai on Nov 23 as a result of which TS Krishnamurthy passed a ruling that the president will only have a casting vote.

Consequence: Mahendra loses the chariman's vote and has only casting vote which he can give in the event of a tie. Undoubtedly, a setback for Dalmiya group.

National CC

Headed by Jagmohan Dalmiya, the National Cricket Club lost its voting right after Nov 23 ruling on the grounds that it had not held its election since 1998. Dalmiya is believed to have shown the IT returns of the NCC before the observer on Sunday which again was disputed by the Sharad Pawar lawyers.

Consequence: Bad news for Dalmiya

Bihar CA

After the bifurcation of the State, AC Muthiah, the former president of the BCCI, had granted full membership to Bihar CA led by Lalu Prasad Yadav. It was overruled by Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2004 who granted membership to Jharkhand CA on the ground that the headquarters of the erstwhile BCA was in Jamshedpur. It was contested before the observer on Nov 23 who restored the membership to Bihar and denied the voting right of  Jharkhand CA. On Sunday, Jharkhand CA president Amitav Chaudhury presented his argument as to why his association is the rightful one, saying it had hosted a couple of ODIs.

Consequence: Recognition of Bihar is bad news for the Dalmiya faction. Laloo Yadav is expected to vote for Sharad Pawar.

Himachal Pradesh

The dispute with HPCA is not about the association but about the rightful person representing the unit. After a State Government ordinance, the HPCA was 'restructured' in a 'representative' election which was boycotted by Anurag Thakur, its incumbent president. In the election, one Rajendra Zhar was elected 'president,' who Thakur claims is not the real representative. The observer ruled that the member with sanction of the State Sports Director will treated as the right candidate.

Consequence: Anurag Thakur is good news for Dalmiya and Zhar is good news for Pawar.

Uttar Pradesh CA

Headed by Jyoti Bajpai, the BCCI treasurer, had dissolved the body and reformed it as a company under the same name UPCA. After a State Government's ordinance, another body was formed as The UPCA. It is being represented by a lawyer Imran Ulat. Observer will have to decide on who is the real representative of the UP.
Consequence: Jyoti Bajpai is good news for Dalmiya.

DDCA

The ruling against DDCA was that since it did not hold elections since 2001, it  automatically stood to lose its right to vote as every state unit is constitutionally bound to conduct elections regularly.

Consequence: One more vote lost by Dalmiya faction

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