BCCI vice-president Sneh Prakash Bansal and his group swept the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) Executive Committee polls held here on Monday defeating former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi led faction by an overwhelming margin.
Bedi, who teamed up with former World Cup champion and Indian coach Madan lal, former Test players Gursharan Singh and Abbas Ali Baig and several other former cricketers, got only 285 votes as against Bansal’s 3433. Other members of the Bedi’s group also met the similar fate. “It’s a good win. We will try to do things that are good for the development of cricket in Delhi. We will start new tournaments for the 19 to 25 age group,” newly elected president Bansal said after taking over the charge.
About the proxy system that the Bedi and company has been asking to abolish, Bansal said, “It’s a myth that these people are trying to spread. The proxy vote system is allowed in the Companies Act. We aren’t doing anything illegal. It’s not that the people who have signed the proxy forms can’t come and vote. They are free to do that.” “We aren’t against anyone. If these people have suggestions, they can always share with us and if they are appropriate, we will accommodate them,” he added.
The Bedi and Co organised a protest demonstration outside the DDCA office but it was a failure as the attendance was barely in double digits. Former India all-rounder Kirti Azad, who didn’t contest the elections but was responsible for the cricketers’ movement against “corruption”, said that they are planning to go to court against the proxy system. “We are going to court to get DDCA dissolved as a company. We have raised the voice and our fight against corruption will continue.”
Outgoing DDCA president Arun Jaitley chaired the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the morning where Section 25 of the Companies Act was amended and sent for the approval of the Central Government. According to Sec 25, DDCA can’t pay its members for their services but the association uses the expertise of several former cricketers as coaches, selectors and curators and wants to pay them. “We’ve made some changes (in Sec 25) and are going to request Central Government to approve it so that we can pay our members for their services,” Bansal said. later on, Jaitley also met Virender Sehwag, who took his blessings, and the two talked for close to half an hour.