WFI Elections: In a notification issued on Tuesday, the returning officer announced that the much-awaited elections to the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will be held on July 6. The announcement comes a day after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appointed retired High Court judge Mahesh Mittal Kumar as the returning officer to speed up the election process. It was also informed that the results of the election would also be declared on the same day.
June 19 has been fixed as the last date for receiving two nominations each from each state and union territory for the formation of the electoral college and the review will be completed by June 22. Each state unit may send two delegates and each delegate shall have one vote. Thus there will be 50 votes in the electoral college for WFI elections. But it is learned that some state units which were earlier disbanded by WFI have also staked claim to participate in the elections.
Returning officers will decide who can vote and who cannot, after considering the claims of representatives of different groups. Nominations for the election can be submitted from June 23 and the last date for submission of nominations is June 25. Nominations will be reviewed on June 28. Candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations between June 28 and July 1, after which the final list of contesting candidates will be released on July 2.
The Election Officer wrote in his notification issued on Tuesday, ‘While the last date for receiving two nominations from each State / Union Territory for the formation of the Electoral College has been fixed on June 19, 2023 at five o’clock in the evening, all the The Recognized Wrestling Federations are asked to nominate two persons each from the Recognized Federations of the States/UTs as per the approved constitution of WFI and the guidelines of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, as members of the Executive Committee, This will constitute the Electoral College which will elect the members of the Executive Committee in the election.
According to the notification, ‘Nominations should be sent with the signature and seal of the president and general secretary of the concerned federations but only by 5 pm on June 19, 2023. The WFI elections will be for the post of president, senior vice-president, four vice-presidents, general secretary, treasurer, two joint secretaries and five executive members. It was speculated that the elections would be held on July 4 after the IOA on Monday appointed Mittal, former chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, as the returning officer.
The main task before the retired judge is to decide which of the rival factions in the state associations will contest the elections. Two different state units reportedly from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka have sent names for the voter list for the election. The WFI disbanded its Karnataka, Haryana and Maharashtra units at its executive committee meeting in June 2022 for various reasons including ‘corruption and mismanagement’.
Another big issue in the election will be whether family members or associates of outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh will be allowed to contest. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had assured the wrestlers that the government would not allow any member or associate of Brij Bhushan’s family to contest the elections.
It remains to be seen what will happen when an eligible person associated with Brij Bhushan files nomination for the election. Brij Bhushan’s son Karan was the vice-president in the previous structure of WFI and is also associated with the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Federation. His son-in-law Vishal Singh is the President of Bihar Wrestling Federation. Both the states are eligible to contest the election as a representative of the association.
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