Scindia is MPCA chief
Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industries Jyotiraditya Scindia was re-elected president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) at elections held at Usha Raje Stadium in Indore on Sunday night.
Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industries Jyotiraditya Scindia was re-elected president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) at elections held at Usha Raje Stadium in Indore on Sunday night.
Scindia, who has been president since 2004, defeated his rival, state industries minister Kailash Vijayvargiya by a margin of 70 votes. Scindia got 142 of the 215 votes polled while Vijayvargiya could only manage 72.
The Scindia panel also made a clean sweep, bagging all the office-bearers’ as well as managing committee berths. The two rival panels failed to get even a single seat between them.
In a surprising move, former national selector and incumbent MPCA secretary Sanjay Jagdale, withdrew his candidature and was replaced by Narendra Menon.
The results were made official at around 1 am on Monday morning, almost four hours after counting got underway at 9:30 pm on Sunday.
Following his victory, Scindia said: “There is no place for politics in cricket and only those associated with cricketers are welcome.” He added that MPCA members know whom they need and have elected them.
The biennial elections to MPCA, the state’s richest sports body, turned out to be an intense contest as the scam-tainted Vijayvargiya threw his hat in the ring against Scindia.
Allegations of dirty politics being dragged into a sports body and use of money and muscle power also flew thick and fast in the run-up to the elections. In the past, MPCA office-bearers had been decided through consensus.
Apart from the rival panels led by Scindia and Vijayvargiya, a third lobby, led by Karan Singh Shekhawat, brother of MP Apex Co-operatives Bank chairman Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, was also in the fray, but did not contest for the president’s for chairman’s post.