Hours after Lalit Modi was on Tuesday formally elected as the president of the Rajasthan Cricket association, the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended the state body indefinitely to form an ad hoc body.
Earlier, the votes, concealed in a sealed envelope, were opened under court observation, according to a Supreme court order last week. Modi’s election as the RCA president is not going to be a cake-walk because the BCCI and RCA chief Kishore Rungta are strictly opposed to his return.
It must be said that the BCCI has already conceded defeat in the Supreme Court, but the board, being an autonomous body, can challenge the controversial Rajasthan Sports Act that allowed him to contest for the post for the second time.
Modi predictably swept the polls, winning by an emphatic 24-5 margin after the Supreme Court cleared the decks for the announcement of the election results, more than four months after the acrimonious polls.
The result was announced by court-appointed observer Justice (retd) N M Kasliwal here today. The announcement of results is expected to trigger another round of legal tussle between Modi and the BCCI, which has made it clear that it would not accept the verdict.
Out of a total 33 votes, Modi’s opponent Rampal Sharma earned just five.
Within a couple of hours of the declaration of RCA poll results, the BCCI indefinitely suspended the RCA and decided to form an ad-hoc committee to run the affairs of the affiliated unit.
“As per Order dated 30/4/2014 the Hon’ble Supreme Court had directed that if it is found by BCCI that any person has acted against its rules, regulations or law, which is to be enforced by it, it would be open to it to take action against such a person,” BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel said in a statement.
“In pursuance of the order, under authority vested in him as per Regulation 32 (vii) of the Rules and Regulations of BCCI, Mr. Shivlal Yadav, Interim President, BCCI, has suspended the Rajasthan Cricket Association from the membership of the BCCI, pending disciplinary proceedings against it on charges of misconduct,” he added.
“Keeping in mind the interests of the sport of cricket and in order to safeguard the best interests and welfare of the cricketers playing the game in different age-groups and their future, an ad-hoc committee will be constituted shortly by the BCCI,” the statement read.
The RCA, on its part, vowed to challenge the suspension in court.
“We are mulling over the situation and would appeal in the High Court,” said Mehmood Abdi, the newly-elected vice-President and Modi’s lawyer.
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