The charges being traded in the corridors of power in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), through letters and in the media are best resolved across the table. The disputes and their resolution are best left to those with more knowledge and greater power. Yet, I must share my surprise at how some in the IOA are challenging their own election nearly two years after getting elected.
A December 10, 2022, letter by Netball Federation of India’s Suman Kaushik who challenged the election of Sportsperson of Outstanding Merit (SOMs) to the IOA Executive Committee has been hauled back in circulation. In that letter, she insisted that the ratification of the nomination of the eight SOMs to the Electoral College should have been done before the election process kicked in.
To her credit, she had raised her objection almost as soon as the IOA General Body meeting started. She wrote a letter to Justice (retd.) Nageswara Rao and to the then IOA Secretary-General Rajeev Mehta, citing her objections that since SOMs had not yet been ratified by the IOA General Body, they could not be candidates for election or propose or second anyone’s candidature.
Returning Officer Umesh Sinha, who had over-ruled her objection, told PTI soon after the election process was complete that everything had been done according to Supreme Court order. “Ratification was done before the elections. There was no issue. The whole schedule was given, the electoral college was also part of it. Everything was done, it was only for ratification,” he said.
Suman Kaushik claimed back then that she was not able to flag the issue before the Supreme Court since the Court had deferred a hearing date from December 7, 2022, to January 10, 2023. She did not explain why she had not raised the objections when Justice (retd.) Nageswara Rao was interacting with the stakeholders before preparing the draft Constitution.
Or, in the month between the IOA General Body meeting approving the Constitution and the elections. It is not clear why she did not approach even the Returning Officer after he published the Electoral College on November 21, 2022, or when he published a list of nominated candidates on November 29 that year.
Letter finds a new lease of life
Her letter regained life recently when it was referred to by Rajalaxmi Singhdeo, Sahdev Yadav and, finally, by 12 IOA Executive Committee members in separate letters addressed to the IOA President, questioning her election as IOA President. (These recent letters have been circulated by a respected former office-bearer of the IOA).
“Your ‘proposer’ and ‘seconder’ for your nomination as President were not ratified or approved by the General Body of the IOA. Therefore your election as President of Indian Olympic Association is strictly questionable,” Rajalaxmi Singhdeo wrote. Usha’s nomination was proposed by BAI President Himanta Biswa Sarma and seconded by SOM MM Somayya.
In his letter to Usha, IOA Senior Vice President Ajay Patel contradicts himself. First, he writes that Usha and he were elected without any objections raised at any stage in the process conducted by former Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha who was appointed as Returning Officer by Justice (retd.) Nageswara Rao. Then, he refers to the need to address Suman Kaushik’s letter.
Similarly, Sahdev Yadav writes about Usha’s nomination not being ratified or approved by the IOA General Body and hence her election is ‘strictly questionable’. Yet, he also waxes eloquent about Justice (retd.) Nageswara Rao drafting the IOA Constitution and approved by the Supreme Court and ratified by the IOA General Assembly and Returning Officer Umesh Sinha.
In effect, they were all questioning the Electoral College drawn up by Justice (retd.) L Nageswara Rao and the election conducted by Returning Officer Umesh Sinha.
If indeed this argument were true, the election of not only Usha but also of Ajay Patel, Gagan Narang, Sahdev Yadav, Amitabh Sharma and Bhupinder Singh Bajwa. For their nominations were Seconded by one SOM or the other as well as those of Rohit Rajpal, Dola Banerji and Yogeshwar Dutt, each of whom is an SOM, will come under scrutiny.
Curiously, without possibly realising it themselves, Ajay Patel and Sahdev Yadav have questioned their own respective election as IOA office-bearers. If indeed they believe that SOMs or those nominated by SOMs could not have been elected to the Executive Committee and hence must be stripped of powers, IOA will be left with only a handful of Executive Committee members.
Challenging retired Judge and Returning Officer’s wisdom?
However, the proponents of this theory have ignored the fact that the election schedule was approved by the Supreme Court on November 3, 2022. The schedule started with the selection of the eight Sports Persons of Merit before the publication of the Electoral College. It followed that anyone who was part of the Electoral College was eligible for election to any of the posts.
The Electoral College was prepared by Justice (Retd.) L Nageswara Rao and submitted to the Returning Officer Mr. Umesh Sinha. It included the eight Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit. Nobody objected to the procedure followed or the validity of the eight SOMs included to the Electoral College of the IOA.
As per the notice for the annual general meeting and election of the IOA Executive Committee for 2022-2026, the formal ratification of incorporating the Sportsperson of Outstanding Merit into the General Assembly was the first item on the agenda ahead of the election of Executive Committee.
The IOA election rules specify that only those in the Electoral College can take part in the electoral process, including contesting, proposing and seconding. And that condition alone should be enough to satisfy the qualifications of the candidates as well as of the proposers and seconders of candidates.
The time to object the inclusion of SOMs in the electoral college is long gone. This objection must be raised before and dealt with by the Supreme Court, which is still hearing objections to the IOA Constitution drafted by Justice (retd.) Nageswara Rao and approved by the IOA General Meeting in November 2022, a month ahead of the elections.
You will agree that there are many things in Indian sport that are not rooted in logic and beyond comprehension. The fact that some IOA officials are questioning the process of their own elections, more than 20 months after assuming power, is easily one of those grave matters that stun but one that usually blows over.
