With the annual elections of the Mumbai Cricket Association being delayed, certain apprehensions are being held that further delay is to stop Sharad Pawar’s immediate return to the BCCI, while paving an easy way for N. Srinivasan’s extension in the BCCI annual general meeting, which is slated for September.
However, MCA president Ravi Savant said that Mr Pawar had not expressed his desire to return to BCCI. “He has never told me of his desire to return to BCCI. He told me he would fight MCA elections, but never asked me to conduct the elections soon. In fact, he has said that he was ready for elections as per our convenience,” Mr Savant said on Wednesday. “We need 40-45 days to complete the procedure. I am a chartered accountant and have my own office work. The BCCI AGM is in September and I have to also complete MCA accounts. So, it is not possible to hold the MCA elections in September. The elections can now happen only in the first week of October,” informed Mr Savant, who has also taken over as the interim treasurer of the Board after the sudden resignation of Ajay Shirke following the turmoil in the BCCI in the wake of the spot-fixing and betting scandal.
“A few court cases against us also debar a couple of our members from contesting elections,” he added. Former MCA member Ratnakar Shetty has filed one of the court cases against his five-year ban.
Mr Savant said that he wanted to conduct the elections in April, but things spiralled out of hand then. “I told members to hold the elections in April, but it clashed with the IPL-6 which carried on till May-end. After that things happened so fast due to the spot-fixing scandal and board resignations,” he said.