Ghelot’s pitch helps Joshi defeat Modi in RCA elections

NEW DELHI: Congress chief minister Ashok Ghelot’s clout in the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) led to the defeat of Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner and BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi in a much-talked-about election for the post of RCA president. Mr Modi was defeated by Union minister C P Joshi.

Mr Modi lost by six votes in an election that was marked by clashes between the two factions. Mr Ghelot’s close associate Srinivas Mali was the original choice for taking on the BCCI V-P, but was made to pull out at the last moment in favour of Mr Joshi, a much-smaller player in the cricketing body. Mr Mali may be accommodated as chief of the state sports board.

The defeat is a big setback for Mr Modi, as it comes within months of his loss to Sanjay Dixit, who had defeated him in the March elections.

Mr Joshi managed to secure 19 votes to Mr Modi’s 13. The RCA was forced to have its second election as Mr Dixit could not keep his group intact and the state government had to form an ad hoc body. The Supreme Court had then directed that the election be held on Monday for which Justice (retired) N M Kasliwal was appointed as observer. Mr Modi might have lost, but Mr Dixit managed to returned to RCA as secretary.

The elections had taken a violent turn when supporters of Mr Modi and Mr Joshi clashed outside the RCA office premises at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. As the voting started, supporters from the two rival camps got into a brawl, which required police intervention.

Mr Modi claimed that his supporters were intimidated and stopped from casting their votes. The scuffle started when Congress workers allegedly objected to the presence of Mr Modi’s bodyguards at the RCA premises.