BCCI elections temporarily suspended

After high drama, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the outgoing president of the Board of Control of Cricket in India, is all set to chair the annual general meeting of the board in Kolkata where is new president will be elected today. The meeting was postponed twice during the day, and is now expected to commence at 5pm IST.

The meeting was first postponed after a division bench of the Madras High Court overruled a decision by a lower court to appoint a retired judge, S Mohan, to oversee the election. Mohan's appointment had been made following a petition by AC Mutthiah, a former president of the Indian board. Though the meeting was set to resume at 2pm IST, it was delayed further as the members were awaiting a fax copy of the court order.

The contenders in the elections are Sharad Pawar, the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, who has been nominated by Punjab Cricket Association, and and Ranbir Singh Mahendra, a veteran cricket administrator, who is being backed by Dalmiya.

Rumours were rife this morning about Pawar withdrawing from the race if no consensus emerged over his candidature. However, this was swiftly scotched by Raj Singh Dungarpur, a former board president who has openly allied himself to Pawar. Dungarpur claimed that Pawar had "17 votes" which was expected to rise to 19. The BCCI has 30 voting members and in case of a tie, the casting vote belongs to the outgoing president.

Meanwhile a city court in Chennai has passed an interim order restraining the BCCI, till October 11, from confirming Jagmohan Dalmiya as patron-in-chief. Dalmiya was appointed patron-in-chief of the BCCI on September 12, after a unanimous decision had been taken at the special general body meeting of the board at Chennai. Bharati Cricket Club, a local club in Chennai, had challenged the appointment.