Cuttack: Sanjay Behera was Friday elected the secretary of Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) while his father, arrested sports administrator, Ashirbad voted from medical. However, the election can turn ‘null and void’ as any charge-sheeted person cannot take part in the poll process.
In a direct contest for the coveted secretary’s post of the OCA, Sanjay defeated another veteran sports administrator Naba Ranjan Patnaik by 20 votes. Sanjay, who had recently resigned as the secretary of Football Association of Odisha (FAO) to contest in the OCA polls, managed to get 45 votes as compared to his rivals 25.
“The members who voted in my favour have given a befitting reply to those who conspired to send my father to jail. Nurturing of budding cricketing talents of the state will be my major focus. Efforts will be made for further development of the Barabati Stadium, which was partially damaged during cyclone FANI,” said Sanjay speaking to the media.
Interestingly the former secretary of OCA, Ashirbad, who was arrested by CBI last week following a supplementary chargesheet against him for his alleged links with Ponzi firm Artha Tatwa Group of Companies, voted through postal ballot.
“My victory is a tight slap on the faces of the conspirators. I will work for the development of cricket in the state. I will be working as per a blueprint which envisages setting up of residential academies to train budding cricketers from the grassroots level,” added Behera. All the office bearers have been elected for a one-year term.
Ashirbad sent his postal ballot through the jail staff from SCB Medical College and Hospital here, where he is currently undergoing treatment in custody.
Ashirbad, who is above 70 years of age, has served the OCA for a cumulative period of over nine years, had to step down in February 2017 to fall in line with the Lodha Committee recommendations.
He had allegedly received one crore from AT Group in the garb of sponsoring Odisha Ranji team and title sponsorship for Odisha Premier League in 2011. Two other members stationed outside the state also voted through postal ballots.
The necessity to count the postal votes did not arise as all the winning candidates registered their victories by over a margin of three votes, said OCA chief executive officer Bidyut Naik.
For the post of OCA president, Pankaj Lochan Mohanty of Boudh district defeated former OCA treasurer Pradeep Chouhan by six votes. Lochan got 38 votes while Chouhan managed to rope in 32 votes in his favour. Akshay Kumar Samant of Angul was declared elected as the Vice President and Mehtab Khan of Jharsuguda became the joint secretary.
Bikash Pradhan of Khurda polling 40 votes in his favour was elected as the treasurer of the OCA defeating Anil Kumar Biswal of Jagatsinghpur by a margin of ten votes.
Earlier, Suvashis Senapati of Kendrapara was elected unopposed for a single post of OCA’s Apex Council member.
PNN
