All India Chess Federation (AICF) secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan on Friday challenged the nomination of Venkatrama Raja for the post of president for the elections scheduled on January 4 on the ground of violation of the Sports Code.
Chauhan claimed that the nominations of Raja and Ravindra Dongre – for the post of secretary – violated the Sports Code, as both of them are not elected members of any state association. He said under rules Raja and Dongre cannot contest elections as their names cannot be in the voters’ list.
“The names of Raja and Dongre cannot be in the voters’ list because they are not elected representatives of their respective state associations. Only those whose names appear in the voters’ list are eligible to contest AICF elections,” he told PTI.
Chauhan, seeking his second term as secretary, has urged the court-appointed Returning Officer Justice (retired) K Kannan to reject their (Raja’s and Dongre’s) nominations.
The chess federation is split into two camps – one headed by Raja and the other by Chauhan, who have been at loggerheads over various issues. While the Chauhan camp has filed nominations for the posts of president, secretary, treasurer, six vice-presidents and five joint secretaries, the Raja-led faction has put up candidates for five vice- presidents and six joint secretaries apart from those of president, secretary and treasurer.
The Returning Officer will conduct scrutiny of nominations on Saturday via video conference and announce the final list of contesting candidates the same evening.
