News

Dalmiya's casting vote questioned

The fate of Ranbir Singh Mahendra hung in the balance after a division bench of the Indian Supreme Court said they would examine the propriety of the outgoing president holding two votes

Cricinfo staff
18-Jun-2007
The fate of Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the president-elect of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, hung in the balance after a division bench of the Indian Supreme Court said that they would examine the propriety of the outgoing president holding two votes. Mahendra, yet to assume office pending litigation, was elected by the virtue of a casting vote in his favour from Jagmohan Dalmiya, who presided over the board elections held on September 29 this year.
The bench, comprising justices N Santosh Hegde and SB Sinha, reserved its verdict on an appeal by the BCCI challenging a order from the Madras High Court on the conduct of the election, but observed that they would examine the rules of the board that allowed the outgoing president two votes. Mahendra was tied 15-15 with Sharad Pawar, a cabinet minister in the Indian government, with Dalmiya having already voted three times in his favour, in his various capacities as the BCCI president, president of the Cricket Association of Bengal and president of the National Cricket Club of India. Then, as laid out in the BCCI constitution, he exercised his casting vote to seal the matter in Mahendra's favour.
However, Dalmiya, who had been nominated as the first patron-in-chief of the BCCI, a decision which has also been challenged in the court, has continued to function as the BCCI president, since the board was unable to complete its annual general meeting.
The counsels for the Netaji Cricket Club and Maharashtra Cricket Association argued that the court should order a fresh election under the supervision of a court-appointed authority considering the "unsavoury" manner in which the election had been conducted.