WFI Elections | The wait is over for the wrestlers! Indian Wrestling Federation elections will be held on July 6; Will Brijbhushan Sharan Singh contest the election?

PTI Photo New Delhi. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections will be held on July 6. While the results of the election will also be declared on the same day. The Returning Officer has confirmed this in a notification issued on Tuesday. 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. Wrestlers’ meeting was held with the Sports Minister on June 7 After meeting the protesting wrestlers on June 7, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had said that the WFI elections will be held by June 30. But it was clear that this deadline would be difficult to adhere to as the WFI requires 21 days’ notice to convene a special general meeting (SGM). The election for Wrestling Federation of India will be held on July 6. pic.twitter.com/xvjDcOdwdA — ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2023 The last date for receiving two nominations from the state has been fixed as June 19 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. Will be able to submit nominations till June 25. Election officers will decide who can vote and who can’t, after looking into the claims of the representatives of various factions. 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 at 5 pm on June 19, 2023, 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, the nominations should be sent with the signature and seal of the president and general secretary of the respective 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. There was speculation that the elections would be held on July 4 after the IOA on Monday appointed Mittal, a former chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, as the returning officer. Also read Disbanded state units stake claim to participate in elections Meanwhile, some state units which were earlier dissolved by the WFI have staked claim to participate in the elections. Two different state bodies in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka have sent names for inclusion in the electoral rolls for the WFI elections. A source in the IOA ad-hoc panel that manages the WFI affairs said the returning officer will decide his fate. It may be noted that the WFI had dissolved its Karnataka, Haryana and Maharashtra units in its executive committee meeting in June 2022 for various reasons including ‘corruption and mismanagement’. Will Brijbhushan Sharan Singh contest the election? 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 Association. Both the states are eligible to contest the election as a representative of the association. (with agency inputs)