WFI polls delayed, objection raised over presence of Brij Bhushan’s family members in voting list

The delay means the WFI elections will now take place 11 days after the initial June 30 deadline set by Sports Minister Anurag Thakur following his meeting with the protesting wrestlers.

Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik sit on a dharna against the Wrestling Federation of India in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

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The much-awaited Wrestling Federation of India elections have been delayed by five days and will now be held on July 11. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA)-nominated ad-hoc committee took this decision on Wednesday owing to the multiple disputes within the state bodies, whose members will vote in the elections.

It is learnt that a few members also raised objections over the possibility of former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s family members being allowed to vote in the elections, alleging they were ‘illegally appointed’ to the state association.

The entire election process – from forming the Electoral College to filing nominations for all posts and eventually voting – has been pushed back by five days.

The three-member ad-hoc committee, which includes retired high court judge MM Kumar, was approached by disaffiliated state bodies in Maharashtra, Haryana, Telangana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. The state units claimed they had been wrongly disaffiliated by the WFI when it was headed by Brij Bhushan, who has been charged with sexual harassment by the Delhi Police.

The ad-hoc committee, on Wednesday, had called the disputed state units for a meeting but during the hearing, it emerged that half-a-dozen more states had levelled similar allegations against Brij Bhushan.

“Around 10-11 state units have claimed they were either illegally disaffiliated or stripped of their membership by Brij Bhushan when he was the WFI president,” a source said. “Over the next 3-4 days, the returning officer will patiently hear all the cases and decide which among the disputed federations will be allowed to vote in the WFI elections.”

The Indian Express has learnt that objections have been raised over the inclusion of Brij Bhushan’s son-in-law Vishal Singh in the voters’ list. Vishal is the president of the Bihar Wrestling Association (BWA). However, former office-bearers of the federation have written to the ad-hoc body overseeing the process that when the BWA was dissolved in 2018, the WFI’s bye-laws were violated.

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If the returning officer upholds their appeal, Brij Bhushan’s son-in-law will not be eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.

The delay means the WFI elections will now take place 11 days after the initial June 30 deadline set by Sports Minister Anurag Thakur following his meeting with the protesting wrestlers on June 7. During the meeting, it was decided that no one from Brij Bhushan’s family will be allowed to contest for key posts while Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat will have a big say in deciding who occupies the posts of president, general secretary and treasurer.

Having completed 12 years as the WFI president, Brij Bhushan, who has been accused of sexual harassment by seven women wrestlers, is not in the fray for another term due to the government’s guidelines as outlined in the National Sports Code.