New Delhi: Elections to 15 posts of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) concluded Thursday, with Sanjay Kumar Singh being elected president of the sporting body.
A close aide of outgoing WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Sanjay Singh garnered 40 votes, as against seven votes in favour of his rival, Commonwealth Games gold medallist wrestler Anita Sheoran.
Speaking to the media after the declaration of results, Sanjay Singh said, “It’s a triumph for the thousands of wrestlers in the country who suffered in the past 7-8 months.”
While Sanjay Singh has been elected president of the WFI, Devender Kadian has been elected as senior vice-president, Prem Chand Lochab as secretary general and Satya Pal Singh Deshwal as treasurer. At the same time, Neivikuolie Khatsii, Prashant Rai, Rajnish Kumar and Ummed Singh have been elected as executive members, Jai Prakash, Kartar Singh, Asit Kumar Saha and N. Phoni have been elected as vice-presidents, and Bellippady Gunaranjan Shetty and R.K. Purushotham as joint secretaries.
The outcome of the election is an endorsement of the dominance of outgoing president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kaiserganj, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing sexual harassment charges.
Sheoran, who was in the running for the post of WFI president, was a witness in the case against Brij Bhushan. She had the support of some of the country’s top wrestlers who staged a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the arrest of the then WFI president.
The WFI elections were no less than a bout between Brij Bhushan and the wrestlers, namely Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshee Malikkh, among others. The three reportedly met Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and wanted Sanjay Kumar to withdraw from the race.
Besides the post of president, voting was also held Thursday at the headquarters of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) here to elect a senior vice-president, a secretary general, a treasurer, two joint secretaries, four vice-presidents and five executive committee members.
In August this year, the United World Wrestling Federation (UWW) suspended the membership of the WFI for its failure to hold elections on time. These elections were stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The Office of Justice (Retd) M.M. Kumar, the returning officer for the WFI elections, had in a statement earlier this month stated that the outcome of the elections will be subject to the outcome of a writ petition pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Prior to the elections, the day-to-day affairs of the WFI were being overseen by an ad-hoc committee of the IOA headed by Bhupender Singh Bajwa.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)