IOA elections postponed after Quraishi resigns

New Delhi : The Indian Olympic Association elections, scheduled to take place next week, have been postponed after the resignation of the chairman of the election committee, S Y Quraishi. The former chief election commissioner, resigned from the post saying his conscience did not allow him to continue after what he said was the backtracking of the sports body from its commitments to follow the government’s sports guidelines.

The IOA had formed the three-member committee to oversee the three-time postponed elections but Quraishi’s resignation has forced the sports body to find a replacement for him. Returning Officer Chief Justice (Retd) V K Bali has said that scrutiny process will only start after the appointment of the new Chairman/Member of the election commission. In his resignation letter, Quraishi said, “I appreciate that IOA has appointed an independent committee for the election. But I can’t continue because IOA had accepted govt’s sports guidelines but later doesn’t want to follow it.”

“I have been advocating the government sports guidelines right from my tenure as sports secretary. Now IOA is not following the guidelines, and my conscience doesn’t allow me to continue. It will be a conflict of interest to continue in the committee,” Quraishi wrote. The government sports guidelines puts a restriction on contestants’ age and tenure of office-bearers. But the International Olympic Committee had yesterday made it clear that the elections should be held as per the Olympic charter and not the government’s sports code.