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Pawar is the Indian board's new president

Sharad Pawar, federal agriculture minister, is the Indian board's new president. In Kolkata today he defeated the incumbent Ranbir Singh Mahendra by a 20-11 margin at the 76th Annual General Meeting of the BCCI

Cricinfo staff
29-Nov-2005


Sweet revenge for Sharad Pawar who lost by a single vote last year © Getty Images
Sharad Pawar, a political heavyweight and the agriculture minister in the Indian government, is the Indian cricket board's new president. In what can be counted as the first electoral defeat for Jagmohan Dalmiya, Pawar defeated Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the incumbent president, and Dalmiya's nominee, at the 76th Annual General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in of India in Kolkata by a margin so whopping that it left the Dalmiya camp in total disarray.
Cricinfo however had predicted at least 20 votes for Pawar, which turned out to be spot on. Mahendra ended with a sorry tally of 11 and it was clear that many of Dalmiya's traditional supporters had deserted him.
To make the victory absolute, the Pawar camp swept all the important positions up for grabs by equally comfortable margins. Niranjan Shah made a comeback to the post of secretary, N Srinivasan, is the new treasurer, and MP Pandove the joint secretary. And three national selectors - Yashpal Sharma, Gopal Sharma and Pranab Roy - who were known to be close to the Dalmiya camp were shown the door too.
The election, conducted under the supervision of T S Krishnamurthy, a former chief election commissioner of India at the instance of the Supreme Court, not only signalled sweet revenge for Pawar, who was pipped to the post by a single vote by Mahendra last year in controversial election in which Dalmiya voted four times, but also marked the end, at least for the time being, the Dalmiya era which lasted 21 years.
After being elected, Pawar thanked Krishamurthy for a smooth and fair election. " As I said yesterday, we were quite confident of victory and the entire election procedure," Pawar told reporters outside the conference hall of a five-star hotel where the election was held. "I'm grateful to all those who supported me and my entire team. We will concentrate on building basic infrastructure for cricket throughout India. I'm sure our collective efforts will be able to give justice to young, budding players and the cricket loving people of the country."
Niranjan Shah said the new regime would continue to utilise Dalmiya's services. "A man like Dalmiya with such a vast experience of running cricket affairs will always have utility for the BCCI."
Dalmiya, a former chairman of the ICC, was twice president of the BCCI and was widely acknowledged as the real power behind the throne during the tenure of Mahendra whose election he had masterminded last year. Along with I S Bindra, who is now a bitter adversary, he was instrumental in winning the bid for 1996 World Cup for the subcontinent, and making the BCCI the richest sports body in India and one of the most affluent and powerful of cricketing boards in the world.
Never to take a defeat lightly, Dalmiya questioned the role of Krishnamurthy in conducting the election. "It was not a debacle for us," he said. "One of our genuine voters was asked to sit out while a complete stranger who had nothing to do with cricket was allowed to vote."
But even he didn't go as far as to deny Pawar his win. At best, Dalmiya said, the verdict could have been 16-15 in favour of Pawar.