Raninder Singh was declared re-elected National Rifle Association of India President, defeating Shyam Singh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) by a thumping 56-3 margin at its general body meeting in Mohali on Saturday. He thus gets to continue in what is his 11th year in office. Kunwar Sultan Singh (Ladakh) was declared elected Secretary-General unopposed for four years.
NRAI went ahead with its elections despite Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports directing it to change the Returning Officer and start the election process from the scratch. NRAI cited the Delhi High Court decision earlier to not stay the election when it heard a Writ Petition filed by Uttar Pradesh Rifle Shooting President Shyam Singh Yadav.
NRAI appointed an Additional Returning Officer to conduct the election. Mr. Justice Inderjit Singh Walia (Retd.) was named the Additional Returning Officer after the Ministry upheld Mr. Shyam Singh Yadav’s contention that the Returning Officer Mr. Justice Mehtab Singh Gill (Retd.) was conflicted as his appointment as Punjab’s Chief Vigilance Office was made by a committee headed by Mr. Raninder Singh’s close relative.
The Indian Olympic Association observer Chandramukhi Sharma, who is Basketball Association of India Secretary-General, was present at the meeting. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports preferred not to send an Observer to the election. It remains to be seen if Shyam Singh Yadav will puruse his case in the Delhi High Court.
The NRAI Governing Body will face some immediate challenges, not the least of them being to try and convince the Ministry that it did not heed its directive only because it felt empowered by the Delhi High Court order and not out of disrespect to the order to change the Returning Officer who was held to be in conflict.
The other significant task will be to resume the review of the Indian team’s dismal performance in its second successive Olympic Games. After an anonymous NRAI official was quoted as saying on August 12 that a three-stage review process was already on, the NRAI issued a statement more recently as saying that the review process needed more time and would resume after the elections.
Office-bearers and Governing Body:
President: Raninder Singh (Punjab).
Secretary-General: Kanwar Sultan Singh (Ladakh).
Treasurer: Randeep Mann (Tripura).
Senior Vice-President: Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo (Odisha)
Vice-Presidents: Ajay H. Patel (Gujarat), Amit Sanghi (Telangana), Ashok J. Pandit (Maharashtra), Ashok Mittal (Haryana), John Kharshing (Meghalaya), Putul Kumari (Bihar), Sushma Singh (Uttarakhand) and Verinder Kumar Dhall (West Bengal).
Joint Secretaries-General: Pawan Kumar J. Singh (Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu and Sheila Kanungo (Maharashtra).
Hon. Secretaries: G Susheel (Karnataka), Ishwal Rohal (Himachal Pradesh), Kumar Tripurari Singh (Bihar), Meghasham Shripad Bhangle (Goa), Moirangthem Rachandra Singh (Manipur) and R Ravikrishnan (Tamil Nadu).
Governing Body Members: Akash Nangia (Arunachal Pradesh), Amarjang Singh (Punjab), Ananta Kumar Sen (Jharkhand), Atul C Barot (Gujarat), Gusti J. Noria (Telangana), Kunti Malik (Puducherry), Merang Jamir (Nagaland), Neil Sootinck (Nagaland), Paramdeep Singh Gill (Chandigarh), Rajiv Atma Ram (Chandigarh), Ritesh Chakraborty (West Bengal), Rupak Debroy (Tripura), Salalith Tottempudi (Andhra Pradesh), Sharat Chander Singh (Jammu & Kashmir), VC James (Kerala) and VL Hruaizela Khaingte (Mizoram).
