Lalit Modi winner in RCA polls, BCCI tells Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Former Indian Premier League ( IPL) chief Lalit Modi won the Rajasthan Cricket Association ( RCA) presidential election, the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) told the Supreme Court Monday, contesting his candidature.

The court was to announce the results of the polls on Monday by opening a sealed envelope, but it decided to defer it to March 4 amid loud protests about Modi’s eligibility to contest the election. BCCI told the court that Modi had won 26 of 33 votes.

The former IPL commissioner told ET that he was shocked that BCCI already knew the result when the court and himself were still unaware of this. “They are so afraid that they have already assumed I have won. The result would have been announced today but for several loud interventions by BCCI,” he said, over the phone from London. “Now we will have to wait till March 4.”

The cricket board has been opposing Modi’s return to cricket administration in India. In September, BCCI had formally banned Modi from the board on charges of financial irregularities in running the league, indiscipline and “actions detrimental to the interest of the BCCI.”

The BCCI said that if Modi gets elected even though he is facing a life ban, it would have no option but to suspend RCA. Modi contested elections on the basis that the Rajasthan Sports Act does not recognise a ban by BCCI.

Before the elections, the board had written to the RCA president CP Joshi warning that the association “stands to lose its rights and privileges as BCCI member if the expelled administrator of BCCI is allowed to remain an office-bearer of one of your district units.”