It’s a known fact that both Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and Brijesh Patel, who have joined hands to wrest the power at the Karnataka State Cricket Association, have fixed amount of voters that give the president and secretary aspirants a head-start over their respective rivals. But the outgoing Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath combine may just have created their own vote bank by handing out 445 fresh memberships during their tenure.
Though Kumble and Srinath have decided not to contest elections this time, they have fielded a strong set of candidates and actively involved themselves in the election campaign. Sadananda Maiya, the current vice-president, is leading the Kumble-Srinath backed panel, and while he is a well-known personality in Karnataka cricketing circle, he faces a tough challenge from Wadiyar.
The scion of Mysore royal family had defeated batting legend GR Viswanath in 2007 and had lost narrowly -- by 43 votes -- to Kumble in 2010. Brijesh, who unseated the late C Nararaj to hold the reigns for 12 years, has a large support among 1800-plus members and knows the pulse of the voters only too well.
In this scanario, Team Maiya needed their own share of fixed voters to fancy its chances against a formidable opposition. A member of Maiya panel said that they were banking on new members, some of whom have waited for 20 years to get the membership.
The memberships, in fact, had been approved way back in 2002 but were never formalised fearing some legal wrangles. The Kumble team, after seeking legal advice, went ahead and handed memberships based on seniority. It’s not necessary that all those -- 330 life members and 115 institutional members -- will translate into votes for Maiya and company, but it’s something that they are certainly banking on.
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