Bombay HC halts Maharashtra Cricket Association election; questions inclusion of 400 members

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has stayed elections to the apex council of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) scheduled for Tuesday, questioning the way in which 400 new members, including relatives of incumbent president and NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, were inducted.

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad noted that the manner in which the entire process of admission of new members was carried out gave a "prima-facie impression that everything was done in a hot haste." The order came on a bunch of petitions claiming that norms laid down by the Supreme Court for the elections were violated and there was favouritism in adding members to the voters' list released on December 25, 2025.

The new members include Rohit Pawar's wife Kunti and his father-in-law Satish Magar, and NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule's daughter Revati, the petition stated.

The petitioners, which include former cricketer Kedar Jadhav, alleged that many of the new members had nothing to do with cricket, and they were added only so that some people could run the MCA as their private organisation.

The petitions challenged the election process, terming it "illegal", and claimed there was an "erroneous" inclusion of more than 400 voters in the draft voter list.

"Many of the new members are related to the President and other office-bearers who are at the helm of affairs," the high court noted in the order.

The existing members had no opportunity to raise objections and they were not provided access to the minutes of the meeting of the Apex Council and Annual General Meeting, it added.

In view of the allegations of illegality, arbitrariness and nepotism, the court was entitled to examine the decision-making process which led to the induction of 400 new members, the judges said.

The court also raised doubts over the large-scale admission of new members prior to elections.

The induction of 400 new members would certainly affect the election, it said.

"In the circumstances of the case, this Court cannot adopt a hands-off stand and permit the elections scheduled on January 6 to continue. The high court should not permit the illegality to be perpetuated," said the division bench, asking the electoral officer to not proceed with the election until further orders.

The next hearing would be conducted on February 4.

The court also noted that the object of the MCA was to control and improve the quality and standards of cricket in the state, to lay down policies, to build stadiums of international standards, and so on.

It was debatable whether a person can become a life member of the association merely because he or she has donated funds towards cricket, the HC said.

Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the MCA, had argued that the newly inducted members had made substantial contributions to the sport by donating crores of rupees, and the rules and regulations of the MCA do not mandate that only a cricketer or a person associated with the sport can be a member.