State hockey players may now have to enquire on which association to approach for support. Two New Office Bearer groups were elected in Hockey Jharkhand annual general elections, State’s association for the game.
State Wrestling Association’s General Secretary Bholanath Singh was declared the new President of Hockey Jharkhand by Hockey India (HI) at Hotel Prime Park. At the same time, Jharkhand Olympic Association’s Joint Secretary-cum-former Hockey Jharkhand Senior Vice- President SM Hashmi was announced President of Hockey Jharkhand, which has been working for the game from Astro Turf stadium till date.
The dual selection is likely to create confusion as both are aiming to work for promotion of the game across the State. “We have been working for the players since decades. According to norms, Hockey India is not authorised to send a Returning Officer for conducting the elections for the State body. However, they can send an Observer,” Hashmi said.
Meanwhile, Bhola Singh and Hockey India officials declined Hashmi’s opinion. “We will accept that state association where our Returning Officer RK Srivastava and Observer Mustaq Ahmed have gone,” HI Chairman Narinder Batra said.
Srivastava confirmed that Hockey Jharkhand had themselves requested Hockey India to send a Returning Officer.
Notably, both the teams had submitted their nominations to Srivastava on September 15.After an internal dispute between the two groups, High Court lawyer Gauri Shankar Prasad was named as Returning Officer for Hashmi team’s election on September 16. Moreover, Purty on September 15 had filed an FIR at ST/SC police station against Srivastava and Singh for abusing her as ‘Tribal’ and threatening to assault sexually.
When The Pioneer asked Hashmi to speak on the issue, he said they will send proceedings of the final election result to Hockey India within two days. “If our documents are rejected, we are ready to take legal action against HI. Also, we will write a letter to IOA and JOA to take proper action over our decision.”
Hashmi’s team includes veteran hockey player Savitry Purty who was the General Secretary for the association last year and is selected for the same post this time. Similarly, Suresh Kumar is the Treasurer for the second time.
According to HI, most of the members of Singh’s team won by 21 votes. Indian Women’s Hockey player Ashunta lakra is among the four Vice Presidents of Singh’s group. Both, Singh and lakra are supposed to represent the state at Hockey India’s meeting scheduled on October 13. As many as 46 votes were counted including both the teams.