"18 nominations have been filed from our panel": Vishal, outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan's son-in-law
Jul 31, 2023
New Delhi [India], July 31 : Vishal, the son-in-law of the outgoing Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Singh, said on Monday that 18 nominations have been filled from their panel for WFI elections and their candidate for the president is Sanjay Kumar Singh.
He also said that four of their people have filed nominations for the as many vice president posts.
"18 nominations have been filed for now from our panel. Our candidate for President is Sanjay Kumar Singh. We have filed nominations for four vice presidents," said Vishal to the media.
Earlier, outgoing WFI president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan said that today is the last day for filing nominations for the federation’s elections and no member of his family will contest the election.
"Today is the last day for filing of nominations for the federation’s elections (Wrestling Federation of India, WFI)...Nobody from my family is filing a nomination," Brij Bhushan told ANI on Monday.
Initially, the WFI elections which were set to take place from July 6 to July 11 were postponed, as per the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
Former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Mahesh Mittal Kumar was appointed as the returning officer for the Wrestling Federation of India elections by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). IOA Joint Secretary and Acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey confirmed the appointment of Justice MM Kumar through an official letter, also authorising him (Kumar) to appoint an Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) and other staff to assist him in conducting the elections.
In the election, the members of the executive committee of WFI will be decided. The occupants of the post of president, one post of senior vice-president, four posts of vice president, one each position of secretary general and treasurer, two posts of joint secretary and five posts of an executive member will be decided, as per a letter from IOA.
The IOA organised a three-member ad-hoc committee in April as mandated by the Union Sports Ministry and two members were named to oversee WFI's day-to-day activities and pick wrestlers for international events in the interim term.
Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in April this year announced that the IOA will be forming an ad-hoc committee to conduct the elections for the Executive Committee of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) within 45 days of its formation, to manage day-to-day affairs of the body, including the selection of athletes and making entries for the participation of players in international events.
Earlier top wrestlers like Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik protested for months since the start of this year demanding action against Brij Bhushan over alleged sexual harassment allegations.
