Jagmohan Dalmiya becomes president of Board of Control for Cricket in India

CHENNAI: Jagmohan Dalmiya is back at the helm of Indian cricket. The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Monday elected him as its president unopposed a decade after he was expelled from the board on allegations of misappropriation of funds.

In an actionpacked eight-hour marathon annual general meeting, BCCI also elected Anurag Thakur, BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh, as its secretary, beating outgoing president N Srinivasan-backed candidate Sanjay Patel by just a vote.

The AGM was chaired by Shivlal Yadav, who was interim president till Sunday, as the Supreme Court barred Srinivasan from attending BCCI meets and contesting elections due to conflict of interests. Team Srinivasan-supported Amitabh Choudhary and Anirudh Chaudhry have been elected as joint secretary and treasurer, respectively. But their wins were not without drama. Shivlal Yadav, said to be with Srinivasan, had to cast his vote to let Choudhary beat Chetan Desai of Goa. The elections witnessed an upset when Congress heavyweight Jyotiraditya Scindia lost to CK Khanna for the post of vicepresident for the Central region.

The newly elected team promised to cleanse the functioning of the board. “The top priority was to change the image of the board among the people,” Thakur said.

The AGM also took up some other matters such as the post of Indian Premier League chairman, but no decision was reached.

Some members of team Srinivasan lamented Srinivasan’s contributions to Indian cricket would be missed. The meeting wasn't devoid of drama that is now associated with most BCCI meetings.

Mehmood Abdi, deputy president and authorised representative of banned member Rajasthan Cricket Association, arrived to allege that Srinivasan was violating Supreme Court directions by participating in discussions not related to the election of executives.

However, G Ganga Raju, elected vice-president South, clarified Srinivasan did nothing more than cast his votes for the elections. “I don’t see this as leading to any cleansing of BCCI, because top-order people are not ones entirely cut off from the way the organisation has been operating over the last few years. It’s just a shuffle; there is no fresh blood,” said Sumanth C Raman, a cricket aficionado.