Krishna Murthy restores chairman's vote

In a significant move, TS Krishna Murthy, the Supreme Court-appointed observer overseeing Tuesday's BCCI elections, identified 31 voters and restored the chairman's vote. Amid much activity at the Taj Bengal in Kolkata, it came to be known that Bihar had been disallowed from voting, and that Himachal Pradesh's vote will not be cast by Anurag Thakur, but rather by Rajendra Zar.

In an eight-page document that circulated, Krishna Murthy has observed, "It was contended before me that both by virtue of past practice and Rule 27, the chairman of the AGM had a right to vote in addition to the right of members to vote. It was also contended before me that this right to vote under Rule 27 was in addition to the right of the chairman to exercise the casting vote under Rule 26 in the event of a tie on an issue.

"After meeting with the representatives of certain associations at Chennai on November 23, a view was taken that the chairman does not have any independent vote and that he could vote only in the capacity of an authorised representative of a member association. The view was also influenced by the fact that under Rule 25, it is not necessarily the President who is chairing the AGM, but even the vice-president or even any other member present in the absence of the president. Further, Rule 5 provides that every full member shall have one vote. Since an additional vote to the Chairman would violate the equality of all members having one vote it was felt that the chairman should have only the casting vote..."

However, even after making such a strong case for the elimination of the chairman's vote, Krishna Murthy decided to stick with tradition and allowed the chairman's vote. It's worth recalling that in the last election the then president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, voted four times (Cricket Association of Bengal, National Cricket Club, chairman's vote and casting vote). However, Krishna Murthy has admitted that there were still anomalies surrounding this rule and that this decision would hold only for the forthcoming meeting. He has suggested that "the BCCI on its own should clarify the provision by a suitable amendment or the court may be pleased to clarify this position by a suitable direction for the future meetings."

This follows a series of events that began with the adjournment of the 76th Annual General Meeting of the BCCI - to have taken place on September 23 and 24 - after a slew of court cases brought a grinding halt to proceedings. Later this adjournment was contested in the courts by the Rajasthan Cricket Association, Netaji Cricket Club and others. Following this - and much to-and-fro activity in the courts - various proposals were put forth, including one that suggested that former cricketers be brought in to be part of the election process. It was then suggested by the Supreme Court that a former chief election commissioner - in this case Krishna Murthy - be appointed to oversee the BCCI elections, and that these elections should take place no later than November 30.

It was then found that the constitution of the board did not include election rules and Krishna Murthy took it upon himself to set guidelines under which the elections would be conducted. It was then decided that a list of eligible voters be drawn up before nominations for the posts of president, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer were accepted. The original date set for this to happen was the 27th, but this had to be put off for a day, following delays in meeting various members who had grievances that needed addressing by the election observer.

Late on Monday morning this list of 30 voters (plus the president's vote) were finalised. Bihar was disallowed from voting, while Jharkand was given the green signal.