Lalit Modi vs BCCI: Rajasthan Cricket Association polls can see new equations in Indian cricket administration

By filing his nomination papers to contest for the president's post of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, the controversial Lalit Modi has set the cat among the pigeons. On September 25, 2013, the Board of Control for Cricket in India imposed a life ban on Modi after he was charged with financial wrongdoings when he was Indian Premier League commissioner from 2008 to 2010. If Modi is elected as RCA chief, it will have massive repercussions on the BCCI and its top management, led by N. Srinivasan. Modi and Srinivasan don't see eye-to-eye and it was the latter's clout that saw the former IPL chief's ouster from Indian cricket administration.

But Modi is not one to throw in the towel. By trying to fight the RCA elections - he may actually win unopposed - Modi has directly thrown a challenge to Srinivasan and Company. With political heavyweights known to influence the way the BCCI runs, Modi will fancy his chance. He apparently has the backing of a senior BJP minister and with Parliament elections due in 2014, Modi will play a waiting game. The RCA elections, due on December 19, could just be the stepping stone and the first of many an 'encounter' with the current BCCI mandarins. Since September this year, Modi has been in the news for different reasons. Here's why (descending order):  

10. Decks cleared for Lalit Modi to contest for the post of president of Rajasthan Cricket Association. Justice NM Kasliwal, who is overseeing the elections, says there are no legal barriers. The BCCI has threatened RCA to take away all rights and privileges if Modi is elected.

9. Lalit Modi faction claims that at least 24 of the 33 units will support the former Indian Premier League chief, who now lives in the UK. Modi's team says RCA can be run with the president in absentia.

8. Lalit Modi files nomination to contest for RCA president's post. Nomination papers were filed by Modi's lawyer Mehmood Abdi, who himself will contest for the post of vice-president. Modi is representing the Nagaur District Cricket Association.

7. Incumbent RCA president C.P. Joshi, who is a senior Congress minister, won't contest this time. Coming as it does in the wake of the Congress rout in the state's Assembly elections, Joshi apparently failed to muster the necessary numbers.

6. Lalit Modi qualified for the RCA elections under the provisions of the Rajasthan Sports Act (2005), which governs the RCA. Modi was elected as RCA president in 2005 when BJP's Vasundhara Raje was Rajasthan Chief Minister. Raje is again back in power.

5. The RCA elections were scheduled to December 19. The decision was taken by Justice NM Kasliwal, the Supreme Court-appointed principal observer to overlook the RCA polls.

4. On October 18, Modi received interim relief from the Rajasthan high court, staying the life ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. (BCCI, CP Joshi trying to stop Modi: Abdi)

3. After the Supreme Court allowed BCCI to hold its special general body meeting, Lalit Modi was unanimously banned by BCCI on September 25, 2013 on charges of corruption in the IPL. Modi was the first commissioner of the IPL when the cash-rich T20 tournament began in 2008.

2. Hours before a BCCI special meet to consider a disciplinary panel report on Lalit Modi for alleged financial irregularities in the cricket league, the ex-IPL commissioner moved the Supreme Court for a stay of the meeting. Modi approached the apex court challenging the order of the Delhi high court which had allowed the BCCI to hold the meeting in Chennai. (Modi set to win RCA president post)

1. On September 4, 2013, a BCCI disciplinary committee filed a 133-page report finding Lalit Modi guilty of misusing his power when he ran the world's richest T20 championship from 2008-2010. Modi was suspended as IPL chairman in April 2010 on charges of misusing his powers, including financial irregularities.