Likelihood of cross-voting adds to the intrigue as DDCA gears up for elections

DDCA elections: Since the Supreme Court abolished voting by proxy as part of reforms in Indian cricket in 2016, upholding the Lodha Committee recommendations, members of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) have been voting in person to pick the management committee.

But ahead of this month’s election, it is being alleged that many parents of players have offered to “manage” votes for contesting candidates in return for favours for their children/wards, mostly playing in junior categories. Some people believe this could impact the elections in a “big way.”

This is one issue that none of the three groups contesting elections are raising forcefully. Although former India cricketer Kirti Azad, who is challenging incumbent Rohan Jaitley for the President’s post, has been raising the issue of corruption in the selection of players, he has largely talked about money exchanging hands for such favours. Ironically, this might affect Azad and his panel candidates, who are contesting for all 12 seats of the apex council.

The elections are being held for all 12 posts, including those of five office-bearers, after three years. The polling is scheduled to be held from December 13-15, and the results are set to be announced on December 16.

A new trend

Accepting money in exchange for players’ selection in Delhi teams is old news. In this election season, parents of many players have allegedly either “offered” to arrange a few votes for certain contesting candidates or the candidates themselves have “sought” such favours. Those with knowledge of the matter say this is being done largely for the selection of junior teams — under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy and the two under-19 tournaments, the limited overs Vinoo Mankad Trophy and multi-days Cooch Behar Trophy.

“The selection of many juniors has been based not on their skill set but on the role their parents could play, or are playing, in the upcoming elections. To put it more bluntly, parents are offering to arrange for votes, often between five and ten, to get their wards into the team,” claimed a senior member of the DDCA. He also said that candidates of two of the three groups contesting elections are relying on such parents.

“This is reflected in the inflated squads that have been picked for junior tournaments. This has not happened previously in DDCA elections,” he said.

The member also said that some parents become happy even if their sons/wards are just registered with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for tournaments, without a guarantee of being picked in the teams. A look at some numbers makes you think. Last season, 51 players were registered for the under-19 Vijay Merchant Trophy, and this season, 59 have been enlisted. Another upward swing is seen for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament — last season: 23 players; this season: 36.

In their opening match in the under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy, Delhi boys lost by an innings and 235 runs to Punjab in Shimoga, Karnataka, a few days ago. It’s alleged that the final team was never announced and quietly flew off to Shimoga; the selected players were informed over a WhatsApp group.

“Also, parents seeking favours are treating important people to lunches and dinners. Many times, the selectors are helpless as they have no say in this because the deal is being done elsewhere, overseen by a well-known lawyer,” he said. “But if anyone wants to collect evidence of this malpractice, it is virtually impossible to do. Has anyone ever been caught and punished for selection transgressions in the DDCA? Never.”

Also read: Sangeeta Jaitley withdraws from DDCA elections, Rohan Jaitley stays put

Triangular contest

Three groups are contesting the upcoming elections. The Rohan panel is supported by former BCCI-DDCA vice-president CK Khanna, whose daughter is a contestant, and former DDCA office-bearer Ravinder Manchanda. Azad has included “professionals” in his team, and they have the backing of a few of his teammates from the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian team, but some of them don’t have a vote in the DDCA.

The leader of the third group is former DDCA Secretary Vinod Tihara, and his panel has the support of, curiously, Delhi Police officer Rakesh Paweriya and former Treasurer Narinder Batra.

Since DDCA election is different from an assembly or Parliament election, it is difficult to say who the 3,747 DDCA members would vote for to elect a three-year term.

Azad has been a staunch critic of corruption in the DDCA — both financial and cricketing, in terms of the selection of players. Over these same issues, he had a running battle with Rohan’s father, Arun Jaitley, inside and outside Parliament, as the late Union minister was also DDCA President (1999-2013).

Ironically, both were in the same political party, the BJP, when Azad didn’t care about the party line. He has since switched allegiance and is now a fourth-time Parliamentarian on the Trinamool Congress ticket.

Rohan was first elected DDCA President unanimously in 2020, following the sudden resignation of President Rajat Sharma in November 2019, apparently due to a fallout with Tihara, the then Secretary. In the next election, held for the entire apex council in October 2021, Rohan was challenged by senior advocate Vikas Singh but retained his seat easily. Azad continued to raise pertinent issues even with Rohan. They are now headed into a straight contest for the President’s seat, after the Tihara panel decided against fielding a candidate against Rohan. “This might have been done as part of a give-and-take between Rohan and Tihara, but you never know if cross-voting takes place like before,” said an expert.

Photo ballot paper

The contest for the Secretary’s seat is perhaps more intriguing than any other. Four persons are in the fray, one each from the three panels and the fourth being renowned coach and independent Sanjay Bhardwaj, who has the same spelling as Azad’s group’s candidate, a former first-class cricketer.

This has led the electoral officer to order printing of photographs on the ballot paper – a first in DDCA history — of all contesting candidates for all 12 seats.

Interestingly, a few years ago, Tihara and Bhardwaj, the cricketer, were together. When Bhardwaj sat on a hunger strike at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium, Tihara backed him.

The Rohan group has fielded hard-working Ashok Sharma ‘Mama,’ who was a director in the outgoing dispensation, while Tihara will challenge him on behalf of his group.

Rohan’s biggest support comes from CK Khanna, the wily old fox of whom everyone is wary. Known for his uncanny ability to amass votes, Khanna doesn’t seem to have lost his wares one bit. Another major reason for his involvement is that his daughter is contesting for the Vice-President’s post, after having ensured his wife won the Treasurer’s and Vice-President’s posts in previous elections. She is now into a mandatory cooling-off period.

The issue of family members extending their rule has also become a non-issue now. There are a few other contestants whose family members are seeking election again. But no one is objecting to it.

Also read: Remembering ‘Wizard’ Dhyan Chand, Indian hockey’s ‘Bharat Ratna’

Financial issues

Financial issues are always at the forefront in the DDCA. So, it is little surprising that Azad, in particular, has been harping in his campaign as to why outgoing Secretary Siddharth Sahib Singh and Treasurer Pawan Gulati haven’t signed the balance sheet for FY 2023-24.

While Singh, who as an independent candidate caused the biggest upset of the 2021 elections by inflicting a shock defeat on Tihara, was quickly sidelined by the Rohan group after his election while citing a conflict-of-interest issue, Gulati raised the issue of probity vis-à-vis some financial expenses, chiefly over the stadium floodlights.

All three groups have been campaigning in different parts of Delhi. Largely, their meetings with voters have taken place in hotels and clubs, where huge sums of money have been spent on food and drinks, etc. Interestingly, there is no upper limit to the money that a candidate can spend on campaigning.

(The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi and has covered sports for over three decades)