Venkatesh Prasad
Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru: Following Venkatesh Prasad-led panel's demand that the incumbent administration at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) hold elections at the earliest, a release from the association's CoE claimed that the date for the polls - November 30 - was "decided in a meeting on October 14 and subsequently reiterated on October 25th meeting".
Prasad's panel member Vinay Mruthyunjaya, a former a treasurer of the association, welcomed the announcement of election date but wondered what prevented the MC from informing the members about the same when the decision was taken on October 14.
On the allegations of misinterpretation of the nine-year-clause (which defines the maximum number of years an individual can remain in office), the KSCA insisted that as an institution it didn't have any objection to any eligible person from contesting the elections.
"The statement that we are preventing certain persons from contesting is not true," the release stated. "We want to be a compliant association and our top priority is to only ensure our cricketers are not denied an opportunity in BCCI tournaments. Our aim is to put the institution above individuals and ensure KSCA does not lose its membership in BCCI. This is our top priority."
While Prasad's panel claims that a person can be an ordinary member of a Managing Committee for nine years and another nine years as an office-bearer, the current office-bearers maintain that whether a person has spent nine years as an ordinary member of an MC and/or as an office-bearer, that individual is ineligible to contest again.