New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) elections will be conducted at the Indian Olympic Association headquarters here on December 21 (Thursday). The polling and the counting of the votes and the results of the new WFI government body will be announced on the same day. The Supreme Court has given a clean chit to hold the elections after the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The elections will be held for the posts of the president (1), senior vice-president (1), vice-presidents (4), secretary-general (1), treasurer (1), joint secretaries (2), executive members (5).
UP Wrestling Association vice-president Sanjay Singh, is in opposition with Commonwealth Games gold medalist Anita Sheoran for President’s post.
Sanjay Singh on Wednesday said that he is confident about winning the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections and the committee knows what is beneficial for the sport and who will take it to new heights.
"The entire fraternity knows who has worked for the betterment of the sports and who have tried to cause damage. The work done by the WFI in the last 11 years is proof that the sport of wrestling has grown at a good pace in India. People will have that in mind when they will cast their votes," Sanjay Singh told PTI.
Anita has the support of the grappler's Olympic medallists Bajran Punia, Sakshi Malik, and World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, who had accused outgoing WFI president Brij Bhushan of sexual exploitation of female wrestlers.
According to sources, the Brij Bhushan-backed Sanjay Singh panel is the favorite to win the elections with 41 out of 50 votes coming to their side from electoral college members.
Except for the states of Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu Kashmir, and Odisha, the rest are believed will vote for the Sanjay Singh panel.
Bajrang Punia Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat led this protest at Jantar Mantar against Brij Bhushan. The Court agreed to the wrestler’s demand that none of Brij Bhushan’s family members or associates will be permitted to contest elections. Consequently, neither Brij Bhushan's son Prateek nor son-in-law Vishal Singh entered the fray.
Sanjay Singh, who is contesting elections for the post of president, is a close associate of Brij Bhushan but the returning officer had cleared his nomination.
"There is tremendous trust in the ability of Brij Bhushan that he has done a good job to bring about improvement in the level of sport. The financial health of the federation has also improved considerably under him. That's why he still has the backing of the fraternity," said a member of the electoral college.
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