20 CANDIDATES IN FRAY FOR AIFF ELECTIONS

Returning Officer Umesh Sinha, responsible for the conduct of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) elections, has found all the nomination papers to be correct after scrutiny. A total of 20 nominations were received by the AIFF including two candidates each for the post of president, vice-president, and treasurer, while 14 threw in their hats for the executive committee member’s post. 

“After conducting scrutiny of nomination forms for the posts of president, vice president, treasurer, and executive committee members, all 20 nomination forms have been found correct,” RO Umesh Sinha notified. The election is scheduled to take place on 2nd September with the results to be announced the following day. The candidates who have filed nominations can withdraw it before 1 PM on Tuesday.

Six former players, four male, and two women will be co-opted later as executive committee members with voting rights. Former Indian footballers Bhaichung Bhutia and Kalyan Chaubey will be up against each other for the post of president, while Rajasthan association president Manvendra Singh, a Congress politician, will be up against N.A Haris, Karnataka Congress MLA for the vice-president’s post.

Andhra Pradesh state association president Gopalakrishna Kosaraju will face a stiff challenge from Kipa Ajay of Arunachal Pradesh for the post of treasurer

Meanwhile, the candidates who had filed nomination papers for executive committee members are expected to be elected unopposed including G.P Palguna, Avijit Paul, P Anilkumar, Valanka Natasha Alemao, Maloji Raje Chhatrapati, Menla Ethenpa, Mohan Lal, Arif Ali, K Neibou Sekhose, Lalnghinglova Hmar, Deepak Sharma, Vijay Bali, and Syed Imtiaz Husain.