Abhay Singh Chautala set to become Indian Olympic Association president

Abhay Singh Chautala is set to become the new president of the Indian Olympic Association while many of his key associates will also be elected unopposed in the IOA elections to be held on December 5.

Chautala's election as president had become clear last Sunday when his rival Randhir Singh withdrew his nomination for the post but it is now official after withdrawal of nominations ended at 5 pm on Thursday.

The three-member IOA Election Commission, headed by Justice (retd) Anil Dev Singh, was expected to make a formal announcement and put up the final list of candidates by Friday.

With most of the candidates owing allegiance to Randhir Singh withdrawing from the fray, many of the candidates belonging to the Chautala camp will be elected unopposed.

Virendra Nanavati of the Swimming Federation of India will become a senior Vice-President with no other candidate in the fray while the decks are cleared for Lalit Bhanot to take over as Secretary General. Anil Khanna of All India Tennis Association will have no contest for the treasurer's post.

Meanwhile, IOA Acting President Vijay Kumar Malhotra had a series of meeting with senior officials in the wake of the International Olympic Committee's latest threat to suspend India if the IOA followed the Government's Sports Code for the December 5 polls.

Malhotra has to clarify the IOA's position by tomorrow or face suspension by the world body.

IOA sources said that a two-member IOA delegation is likely to meet Sports Minister Jitendra Singh tomorrow to find a solution to the issue which has put a question mark on the election.

The IOA delegation comprising Narinder Batra and eminent lawyer R K Anand will meet the Sports Minister and other senior officials. They are expected to go to Lausanne to have a meeting with top IOC officials on Saturday or Sunday. The IOC had yesterday made it clear that it will propose the suspension of IOA in its Executive Board Meeting early next month if the upcoming IOA elections were held under the government's Sports Code.

In a letter written by IOC Director General Christophe de Kepper to Malhotra, the world body rejected IOA's request to send an international delegation to resolve the issue and threatened to intiate the process of suspending the Indian sports body.

The world body reiterated its directive to the IOA as expressed in its letter on November 23 to present its position to the IOC by November 30 or face suspension.

The elections to the IOA have been marred by controversy over the issue of under which framework they would be held and this had led to the resignation of IOA-appointed Election Commission Chairman S Y Quraishi and later presidential candidate Randhir Singh withdrawing from the race.

Taking into account Delhi High Court's order, the Quraishi-led Commission had ruled that the IOA polls would be held under the government's Sports Code, which in turn, invited IOC's directive to the IOA to "exclusively" apply the Olympic Charter and the IOA Constitution.

Quraishi, a former Chief Election Commissioner of India, then stepped down, citing the backtracking by the IOA to apply the Sports Code. Justice (retd) Anil Dev Singh was appointed by the IOA in his place.

Quraishi's resignation led to the postponement of the elections from November 25 to December 5, but a relentless IOC was not happy with the confusion over under which framework the polls would be held.

Randhir Singh, who is an IOC member and Secretary General of both the OCA and the IOA, withdrew his nomination for the post of president, saying that since the world body had said the polls would not be recognised if they are held under the Sports Code, he cannot go against the institution he belongs to.

IOA's position has been that it has been opposing the Sports Code from the beginning but will have to abide by the Delhi High Court order to hold the elections under the Sports Code.