Brij Bhushan to convene meeting on July 30 ahead of WFI election nomination closing date

NEW DELHI: Outgoing Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has convened a meeting on Sunday to nominate his panel, which will contest the upcoming WFI elections to elect the new office-bearers.

Though Brij Bhushan and his son Karan are not part of the electoral college for the elections, the BJP leader's son-in-law Vishal Singh is a representative from Bihar in the polls and could likely contest for a top position.

Outgoing WFI assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar confirmed that a meeting had been scheduled by Brij Bhushan on July 30, though he did not specify the venue.

"Yes, the outgoing president has convened a meeting on Sunday. It has not been decided where the meeting will take place. The meeting will likely be attended by all those (state body officials) who support him (Brij Bhushan)," said Tomar.

"The presidents and secretaries of the various state associations will likely come for the meeting to discuss the candidates for the elections. The venue for the meeting has not been decided as yet," added Tomar.

The last date for filing nominations for the August 12 elections is July 31.

Brij Bhushan is not eligible to contest as he has already completed 12 years as an office-bearer, which is the maximum term allowed as per the National Sports Code.

The day-to-day affairs of the WFI are currently being managed by the Indian Olympic Association-constituted ad-hoc committee led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa.

Punjab Wrestling Association secretary Ranbir Kundu said on Friday that so far his state association had not received invite from any quarter or candidate to attend their meeting.

"So far, we have not received any invite. We are not going to field any candidate in the upcoming elections for the top posts. However, we will vote for truth and the betterment of wrestling in the country," said Kundu.

Incidentally, the Punjab Wrestling Association's president, renowned former grappler Kartar Singh, was a secretary-general of the WFI until he was removed in 2013.

Two representatives from each state unit will be allowed to vote.

Maharashtra and Tripura will not have any representatives at the elections as the Returning Officer deemed claims of both factions from the former "ineligible" while Tripura has remained disaffiliated since 2016.

The WFI elections are taking place after several postponements.

The IOA ad-hoc panel had initially scheduled the elections for July 6 but it was forced to reschedule the polls to July 11 after disaffiliated state bodies from Maharashtra, Haryana, Telangana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh approached it for a hearing, claiming that their dismissal was not appropriate.

The IOA panel heard the aggrieved representatives of the state bodies but the polls could not go ahead even on July 11 with the Gauhati High Court staying the elections after the Assam Wrestling Association (AWA) sought the right to participate in the poll process.

The Supreme Court then paved the way for elections after staying the Gauhati High Court order.

The scrutiny of the nominations will be conducted on August 2 and a final list of the candidates will be published on August 7. If election is required, voting will be conducted on August 12.