Ranbir Singh Mahendra is BCCI's new president

After a day of high drama, intrigue and recriminations, Ranbir Singh Mahendra was elected as the 27th president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Mahendra won by virtue of the casting vote from Jagmohan Dalmiya, the outgoing president, after he tied with Sharad Pawar, the union minister for agriculture. Pawar termed the election process as unfair but ruled out challenging the result in court.

A controversial election was always on the cards with two heavyweights in the ring and several political equations running in the background, and the day ran to script. The final, and decisive, twist came when the Maharashtra State Association was denied a vote. Two members, Balasaheb Thovre and Dyaneshwar Agashe, turned up claiming to represent Maharashtra, and following a dispute, Dalmiya turned both out.

Pawar hails from Maharashtra and is currently the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, but was contesting the election with a nomination from the Punjab Cricket Association. He claimed the decision was unfair and was designed to defeat him. Dalmiya sought cover under the legal opinion from Justice Bhagwati Prasad Banerjee, retired judge of the Calcutta High Court, who had been invited by the BCCI to be present during the election. "Such situations crop up during elections," Dalmiya said, "that's why we had made necessary provisions beforehand."

However, according to a report from Press Trust of India, Kishore Rungta's representatives from the Rajasthan Cricket Association were accepted, but Lalit Modi's were not. Rungta is known to be a Dalmiya supporter, and Modi's votes were expected to go to Pawar.

The result was a tie. Mahendra was Dalmiya's candidate, and the result of the casting vote was a foregone conclusion.

In a press conference, Pawar said that he did not intent to sue, even though he felt that injustice had been done by not allowing Maharashtra's representatives to vote. He said that he would take steps to have the BCCI's constitution changed, and pointed to the constitution of Mumbai's board, which he heads, as an example. A neutral administrator carries out the elections there, with a list of eligible voters prepared well in advance, and 15 days kept aside for appeals. But in these BCCI elections, the list of eligible voters was decided at the last moment, with no scope for appeals, and the process was conducted by Dalmiya himself, who was hardly a neutral party.

Pawar gave the analogy of a bowler and an umpire conspiring to defeat the batsman, which was then, obviously, an unfair battle. But he adopted a constructive tone instead of a bitter one, saying, "We will see that the board will run democratically. I will give full co-operation to the next president to manage the board."

The day began in dramatic fashion with the meeting, scheduled to start at 11am, being postponed after a division bench of the Madras High Court upheld a petition by BCCI overrule a decision taken by a lower court to appoint a commissioner to oversee the election. S Mohan's appointment had been made following a petition by AC Mutthiah, a former president of the Indian board and a known adversary of Jagmohan Dalmiya. Further delays ensued with members demanding to see a copy of the judgement, and proceedings finally began around 5pm.

Mahendra is a veteran cricket administrator, having joined the BCCI in 1975, and ascending to the post of joint secretary in 1980. In 1985, he was elevated to the post of secretary, which he held for five years. He was one of the key administrators during the 1987 World Cup, which was held in India, and was the driving force behind the Haryana Cricket Association for many years. In 2001, he was elected as one of the vice-presidents of the board. A lawyer by profession, he is the son of Bansi Lal, a prominent politician who served as chief minister of Haryana for a few years.

The drama over the election for president overshadowed the rest of the events, but among the other results, SK Nair was re-elected BCCI secretary. He defeated Niranjan Shah by a margin of 17 votes to 13. Jyoti Bajpai was re-elected uncontested as treasurer, while Gautam Dasgupta was elected joint secretary, defeating Prof Ratnakar Shetty by a 16-14 margin.