As things stand, there is no end in sight for Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) saga. Guwahati High Court has once again postponed WFI Elections. Now the court will hear Assam Wrestling Association’s (AWA) plea on July 28 before the new election date can be set. With Asian Games 2023 approaching, WFI would aim to sort out its mess.
With a ban looming large from the United World Wrestling (UWW), WFI was in a hurry to conduct elections. But despite setting July 11 date, it had to be called off after AWA submitted a plea seeking right to take part in the elections.
“The WFI lawyer didn’t appear before the court today. Representative of the sports ministry, which is among the respondents, sought one week’s time to file their affidavit. Accordingly, the court asked them to file the affidavit by July 26 and listed the matter for July 28,” Devajit Saikia, AWA advocate told PTI.
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The state association had claimed that it was entitled to be an affiliated member of the WFI with voting rights but it was denied recognition by the national federation despite its Executive Committee recommending the same on November 15, 2014.
The Gauhati High Court had stayed the polls on June 25, the last date to submit names for the electoral college. The petitioner had contended that unless their body is affiliated to the WFI, and they can nominate their representative to the electoral college, the election process should be stalled.
The WFI, before being suspended by the Sports Ministry, had set May 7 as the election date. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, after his meeting with protesting wrestlers, had said that WFI elections will be held by June 30.
The IOA then announced that elections will be held on July 4 but the Returning Officer set July 6 as the new date. However, after five disaffiliated state bodies staked claim to be eligible for voting, the Returning Officer yet again delayed the elections by five days, setting July 11 as the poll date.
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