The representatives of 30 eligible state bodies of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are meeting in Mumbai on Sunday (October 13) to finalise all the nominations for various top administrative roles of Indian cricket, which is set to be decided through the much-awaited AGM (Annual General Meeting) of the board on October 23. As per the Lodha reforms the brand-new governance structure will see a nine-member apex council consisting of six full members of the BCCI (five office-bearers – president, vice-president, secretary, joint-secretary and treasurer along with one member’s representative), a male and female cricketer elected by the player association and one representative of the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) office.
For the past few years, there has been a lot of administrative instability in the BCCI and it has been run by a Supreme Court-appointed panel, the Committee of Administrators (CoA). However now, with the election is finally set to take place, the entire cricket fraternity is anxiously following all the key developments to find out who are the front-runners to take charge of the most powerful and influential cricketing body in the world.
As of now, for the most lucrative position of the president, there are three names that are being considered as the favourites – Sourav Ganguly, Brijesh Patel and Jay Shah.
Ganguly is the former India captain and current president of the Cricket Association of Bengal. After retiring as one of the legends of Indian cricket, he has been performing various administrative roles within the board and in his state association.
Patel, a former India batsman and a giant in domestic cricket, has a strong candidature as well. He comes from a family of administrators and has experience of performing key roles in the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) as well as the duties of a national selector.
The other key aspirant is Gujarat’s Shah, the son of union home minister, Amit Shah. In terms of administrative experience, he seems like the underdog amongst the trio but it is being learnt that Shah has strong backing from some of the kingmakers both inside and outside the board.
Meanwhile, according to the insiders, it is almost certain that one of these three heavyweights will be the new president of the board whereas for the other important role of secretary, Himachal’s Arun Singh Thakur, the brother of former BCCI chief Anurag Thakur, is being considered as the front-runner.
However, outside this core group, the other significant names like former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin or Delhi’s Rajat Sharma are also expected to get key office-bearers’ role in the new apex council.
Furthermore, according to a national daily, former India players Kirti Azad and Shantha Rangaswamy will be the male and female cricketers’ representative in the council respectively whereas former Delhi batsman Surinder Khanna may take charge as the new chairman of the IPL Governing Council from Rajeev Shukla, who has been barred from taking part in this election along with representatives of seven other bodies of the board for non-compliance of BCCI constitution.
Meanwhile, on today’s meeting if all the 30 members with voting rights unanimously come to an agreement regarding the five office-bearers’ names then there will be no need for a formal election and the AGM can start straightway with the introduction of the new apex council on October 23. But in case of multiple candidatures for a single post, the voting rights of the members will be utilised.