Gauhati High Court stays WFI elections

Guwahati. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections have been delayed several times and the Gauhati High Court on Sunday once again stayed its elections, which were to be held on July 11, on a petition by the Assam Wrestling Association. Assam Wrestling Federation in a petition filed against WFI, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Ad Hoc Committee and Sports Ministry said that they are entitled to be recognized as members by WFI but the General Council of WFI on 15 November 2014 in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh This was not done despite the recommendation of the then Executive Committee. The ad-hoc committee had fixed June 25 as the last date for sending names for the voter list, while the elections for the selection of the new governing body were to be held on July 11.

The petitioner submitted that the election process should be stopped until his organization is recognized by the WFI and is able to nominate its representative to the electoral roll. The court directed the ad-hoc committee of the respondents WFI and the sports ministry not to proceed with the process of election of the executive committee of the WFI till the next date of hearing. The next date of hearing has been fixed for July 17. An official from the previous term of the WFI said, “Really? So were they sleeping when the WFI elections were held in 2015 and 2019. Why has he moved the court now? Don’t you see something wrong? Somebody is trying to influence the elections of WFI.

it’s clear. This official said, “Assam was the only associate member that did not have voting rights. If he had a problem with it then why didn’t he try to approach the court in 2015 itself. The Assam Wrestling Association, in its plea, said that they were actively involved in promoting wrestling in the state and had organized various national and state level tournaments as per the orders of the WFI. The state association said in its petition that despite several attempts, they were not given recognition. It said that unless it is recognized by the parent body, it cannot nominate its representative to the Electoral College for the upcoming elections. The WFI had fixed May 7 as the date for the election before it was suspended by the Sports Ministry. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur after meeting the protesting wrestlers had said that the WFI elections will be held by June 30.

The IOA again announced that the elections would be held in July but the Returning Officer fixed July 6 as the new date. Then after presenting the claim of five unrecognized state units being eligible for voting, the Returning Officer again extended the date of election by five days and fixed it for July 11. Assistant Electoral Officer Tapas Bhattacharya said that WFI elections will not be stopped for long. “It is a matter related to only one state. Our electoral college is almost ready. Justice MM Kumar (Returning Officer) reserved his order on these five disputed state associations. The case of Assam was not there before, we just have to add two names so it will not take much time.

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