Beleaguered cricket administrator N. Srinivasan is getting ready for another battle as the 83rd annual general body meeting of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association is scheduled for June 23. It’s an open secret that Srinivasan & Co will make it a landslide victory if new office bearers are elected through voting, thus oppositions are banking on the state government to end his reign.
A city-based club (Bharathi CC) — affiliated to the TNCA — has already moved the Madras High Court seeking action against the president and the office bearers for “various irregularities” and rivals are also hoping that the state government would appoint a special officer to look into the issues involving TNCA which is registered as a society in the city.
“All the district members are extremely happy with Srinivasan, so I don’t see any reason why they go against him. Defeating Srinivasan through an elections is impossible,” said a district association member.
Even the opposition camp knows Srinivasan has the numbers to remain at the helm. “If we contest, we probably get 35 to 40 votes out of 192. Election is a waste of time. We are just hoping that something would happen as a result of the plea at High Court,” said a city-based club member.
“During 2009 IPL, those who have voting power were taken to South Africa to watch the matches and they were even paid daily allowance. Srinivasan has been keeping them happy. Obviously, we can’t expect them to vote against him,” he added.
TNCA started issuing forms for elections on June 1, but not even a single nomination has been filed from opposition camp till date. The last date for nomination is June 8 (Saturday), but sources suggest that it will not be a surprise if no one ends up contesting against Srinivasan & co. According to TNCA constitution, president should be nominated only on the floor.
In the 2012 AGM, just one post — joint secretary — had to be decided through voting. G. Natarajan, a relative of Srinivasan, had won it hands down by defeating S. Srinivasan 152-13.
S. Srinivasan, who competed the last two elections in his bid to “improve junior cricket in the state”, confirmed that he would not be contesting this year.
Out of 192 votes, district associations constitute only 31, while city clubs enjoy authority in the AGM with 150 members having voting power. The sitting office bearers — 11 of them — have a vote each.
Meanwhile, sources say a forum of district members on Wednesday decided their nominations for two vice presidents (Ramesh of Kancheepuram and Kanagaraj of Pudukottai) and an assistant secretary (R.S. Ramaswamy of Salem) who are most likely to be elected unopposed.