Indian Olympic Association to hold elections on February 9 minus tainted officials
After the International Olympic Committee served an ultimatum, the Indian Olympic Association was left with no choice but to amend its constitution and hold elections sans charge-framed officials like Lalit Bhanot.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: December 08, 2013 01:42 PM IST
Obeying International Olympic Committee diktats, a defiant Indian Olympic Association finally agreed to modify its constitution and hold fresh elections on February 9, minus tainted officials like Lalit Bhanot and Abhey Singh Chautala. In its general body meeting in New Delhi on Sunday, the IOA agreed to follow IOC guidelines in order to return to the Olympic family. India were derecognized in December 2012 after the IOC ruled IOA elections as "null and void".
In December 2012, the IOC rejected IOA elections observing government interference in a vote that could result in a tainted official taking over as secretary-general. "They are not entitled to have elections and if for some reason they go ahead, this will not be recognized," said the IOC's Pere Miro, in charge of relations with national Olympic committees in December last year. "This is because this is part of a full problem. The election process has been tarnished since the origin. Many different interferences, many governmental rules and their own bad interpretation of IOA statutes," Miro had said.
Citing the law of the land, the IOA had repeatedly failed to accept IOC guidelines of good governance. But with their backs to the wall and de-recognition looming, the IOA on Sunday finally agreed to amend its constitution and elect a fresh set of office-bearers, minus charged-framed officials like president Abhey Singh Chautala and secretary-general Lalit Bhanot, who was jailed for corruption in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. However, Bhanot and Chautala can contest elections later after clearing their names from the IOA's Ethics Commission.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Chautala, whose position as IOA president was unacceptable to the IOC, said: "We have done this only for the sake of the country and our athletes. We still don't agree to the IOC's chargesheet clause, because that is not the law of our country. You can check with all IOA members, we did this only after pressure from the IOC. This is only why we have agreed to amend our constitution." A five-member Indian delegation will soon meet new IOC president Thomas Bach, Chautala informed.
India faced the ultimate humiliation of being kicked out of the Olympic movement unless the IOA kept tainted officials out of its ranks. In an interview to Associated Press, new IOC chief Bach had said that IOC "is prepared to withdraw recognition of the IOA if it fails to comply with rules of good governance" by Tuesday, a punishment that would leave the world's second most populous nation out of all Olympic competitions.
"It's about the principles," Bach said. "Good governance for the IOC is a key issue. We need to be strict and to make sure the rules of good governance are being applied." If India is thrown out, it would be the first time a country has been kicked out of the Olympic movement since South Africa were expelled for their racial segregation policies more than 40 years ago.