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The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on Thursday rejected BJP leader Gopinath Mundes nomination following which NCP chief Sharad Pawar was declared elected unopposed as the clubs president by the election officer. The elections for the top post were scheduled for Friday.
Munde has decided to challenge the MCA order in a city court. I will take the battle against the MCA to the courts. I have consulted my lawyers, he said. Since the process cannot be stopped now,I will seek a stay on Pawar taking charge as MCA president.
The BJP leader circulated copies of the MCA order,which said Mundes passport with Mumbai address could not be considered as valid proof for permanent resident of Mumbai.
On July 9,2011,the club had,though,upheld the nomination of former CM and union minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh,accepting his passport as proof for Mumbai resident. Deshmukhs voter identity was in Latur,where he contested from and where he had a permanent house.
In the past,MCA did not object to Pawar submitting his passport copy with Mumbai address as proof of permanent residentship though his permanent address was Baramati in Pune district.
Munde said,It is unfair. I am a voter of Beed and it is my constituency. But I have a passport with Mumbai address. Deshmukh voted in Latur and had a Mumbai address in his passport. Pawar was voter (till this year) of Baramati with a Mumbai address in his passport. Yet,the MCA never objected to Deshmukh or Pawar.
In a written order Thursday,MCA president Ravi Sawant said,The rules of MCA were drafted way back in 1930. The words used in rule 17 are permanent resident and not permanent residence. The pleading herein indicates that the appellant (Munde) has residential house in Mumbai. Any person can have many residential houses in various cities.
The MCA further dismissed Mundes claims stating that the passport,income tax returns or electricity bills of ones Mumbai residence could not be valid proof of his residentship since anybody having a house was bound to receive such documents even if he or she did not stay here.
Munde is a registered voter at Nathra (Beed district) and has contested parliamentary elections from there, the MCA stated.
Rejecting Mundes plea that Pawar,a voter from Baramati,had got elected as MCA president showing his passport with Mumbai address,the MCA said,Munde should have raised the issue in the appeal memo,which was missing.
Pawar submitted the identity card issued by the Election Commission of India,which mentions his Mumbai address, the MCA said.
For MCA,Pawar the voter shuns Baramati
Mumbai: NCP president Sharad Pawar has got his name struck off the voter list in Baramati,a constituency he painstakingly nurtured for the last 45 years,and enrolled himself as a voter from 185 Malabar Hills Assembly constituency in Mumbai. This came to light in an order passed by MCA president Ravi Savant Thursday while rejecting an appeal by BJP leader Gopinath Munde against its October 12 decision rejecting his nomination for the post of MCA president. ENS
mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com
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