Former judge to oversee PCB polls

A former judge has been put in charge of the elections for the post of PCB chief as the board continues to search for a stable leadership. Justice Muhammad Sair Ali has been directed by Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and Patron of the PCB, to ensure that elections are held within 30 days. Ali will also take over as acting chairman of the PCB.

"Justice Sair is appointed election commissioner with immediate effect as per requirements laid down in the new PCB constitution and will hold elections of PCB chairman within the next 30 days," a statement from the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, which oversees sports, said.

Senior journalist Najam Sethi, who has been at the helm of the PCB several times over the past year, and former board chairman, Shaharyar Khan, have been nominated to the PCB's Board of Governors (BoG) by Sharif. The chairman will be elected from among those in the BoG, and with Sethi having said that he will not contest the election, Shaharyar Khan is seen as a leading contender.

There have been multiple changes of leadership in the PCB since May 2013, when Zaka Ashraf became the first elected PCB chairman. The Islamabad High Court ruled those elections as 'dubious' and Sethi was put in charge of the PCB by the government. Ashraf and Sethi have alternately been re-appointed and sacked from the post several times over the past year. Last month, Sethi was removed and reinstated in the space of two days.

The PCB recently reworked its constitution, changing the structure of the governing board and making the appointment of the chairman more democratic. The BoG was also resized to 10 members, comprising four regional representations (top four teams from the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy), four representatives of services organisations (top four department teams) and two members to be nominated by the patron in his discretion.