Chennai: Rupa Gurunath, daughter of former BCCI chief N Srinivasan, was on Thursday elected unopposed as president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), making her the first woman to head a state unit of the Indian Board.
- Rupa is the wife of Gurunath Meiyappan, who is the tainted former Team Principal of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and serving a life ban for his involvement in the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal. Meiyappan was in fact arrested by the Mumbai Police in midst of IPL.
- Interestingly, Rupa's father N Srinivasan was barred from holding any position in the BCCI by the Supreme Court due to his commercial interests in Chennai Super Kings, a team in the Indian Premier League.
Rupa was elected at the TNCA's 87th Annual General Meeting here.
As the filing of nominations came to a close on Wednesday evening, Rupa's was the only nomination filed for the post of president, whose election was announced on the floor of the house as per TNCA norms.
The TNCA's Executive meeting on Sunday decided to hold the elections on Thursday.
TNCA recently hit the headlines after unnamed officials, coaches and players in its franchise-based Tamil Nadu Premier League were accused of being involved in match-fixing.
An inquiry is currently underway in the matter.
The Supreme Court had on Friday allowed the TNCA to hold elections for its office-bearers, but said the results will be subject to a final decision on the body's compliance with Lodha reforms.
The results of elections will be subject to the order of the top court and legal remedies will be available to parties involved.
The Committee of Administrators (CoA) governing Indian cricket, in its submissions before the apex court, had complained that the TNCA did not comply with the new BCCI constitution as mandated by the top court.
