Hyderabad: Elections to the Hyderabad Cricket Association will be held on January 17 after the High Court on Wednesday gave the go-ahead on hearing HCA’s Civil Revision Petition against the order of the District Court appointing an Advocate Commissioner for conduct of polls to the State cricket body.
However, the results are to be withheld until the legality of the elections is adjudicated by the Court, which will hear the matter after vacation, on January 18.
According to the HCA, Justice Kodandaram passed an Interim Order that read: “The election may go on. Announcement of results is stayed until further orders. Post the matter on 18-01-2017.”
That has put electioneering in full swing with candidates and groups campaigning aggressively to win over a majority of the heads of 216 cricket clubs that form the HCA.
Meanwhile, some contentious issues too have cropped up with members registering complaints against the candidatures of a few contestants. Prominent among these is the one against former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who has filed his nomination for the president’s post. “Yes, I have received complaints about his nomination and am studying whether they are tenable or not,” Advocate Commissioner K. Rajeev Reddy, who has been appointed Returning Officer by the Ranga Reddy court, told this newspaper on Wednesday.
The nature of complaints against Azhar range from “BCCI not lifting the ban (imposed on him for alleged match-fixing even though he got a favourable order from the AP High Court in 2011) yet,” to him not fulfilling eligibility criteria.
“He has not been registered as a voter in any club till January 8, which was the cut off date to submit authorisation letters to acquire identity cards for the elections,” Mr Reddy said, adding, “I will have to go through these complaints after 2 pm on Wednesday when time for withdrawal of nominations ends.”
That could potentially embarrass the cricketer who has played 99 Test matches and 334 ODIs. After scrutiny, the list of eligible contestants will be displayed at the HCA offices by noon on Friday.
