Jagmohan Dalmiya elected BCCI President

Jagmohan Dalmiya returned as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India after being unanimously elected at its Annual General Meeting in Chennai on Monday.

The Narayanswami Srinivasan camp suffered a setback as the rival faction's Anurag Thakur defeated Sanjay Patel for the post of secretary.

Thakur's one-vote victory over Patel provided the only cheer for the anti-Srinivasan camp at the much-postponed AGM elections, which were swept by the ruling group’s loyalists.

- Life comes full circle for Jagmohan Dalmiya

- The World Cup, as never before on Rediff.com

- VOTE: Who will win the 2015 World Cup?

Srinivasan was unable to contest for the president's post following a Supreme Court directive.

Jharkhand Cricket Association's Amitabha Choudhary was elected joint-secretary. He defeated Goa's Chetan Desai of the anti-Srinivasan faction, while Haryana's Anirudh Choudhary got the better of Rajiv Shukla 16-13 for the treasurer’s post.

While the three vice-presidents were elected unopposed, two other positions also went to the Srinivasan faction, with T C Mathew (Kerala, West Zone) and C K Khanna (Delhi, Central Zone) winning the polls.

Khanna defeated the influential Jyotiraditya Scindia, while Mathew edged past Ravi Sawant.

The three elected unopposed were Andhra's G Ganga Raju (South Zone), Assam's Goutam Roy (East) and M L Nehru of Jammu and Kashmir, who represented North Zone.

The road for Dalmiya was cleared after former president and NCP leader Sharad Pawar failed to get a proposer from East Zone, prompting the Maratha strongman to pull out of the race.

BJP leader Thakur, it is learnt, won by just one vote over Srinivasan loyalist Patel, a scenario unlikely to have emerged had there not been cross-voting during the election process.

It is learnt that two members did not vote at all, while a third who owes allegiance to a leading political party decided to vote for Thakur.

In the case of joint-secretary, both Desai and Choudhary garnered 15 votes each but Shivlal Yadav, who chaired the meeting, tilted the scales in Choudhary's favour with his casting vote.

However, the fact that other anti-Srinivasan camp candidates lost the elections proved that cross-voting took place only for Thakur.

The BCCI issued a statement announcing the names of the winners for each post but did not divulge their vote share.

It also said that audited accounts for the FY 2013 – 2014 were approved during Monday’s AGM.

The AGM also ratified Srinivasan's position as ICC chairman, according to a top official.

Another decision taken at the AGM was that Thakur will now represent the BCCI at the ICC's Chief Executive Committee meetings. The AGM also decided to extend the tenure of the current national selection panel for six months.

The 74-year-old Dalmiya, president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), was unanimously accepted by all the units loyal to Srinivasan to return to a position he held more than a decade back.

His bid got a boost after Pawar failed to get any proposer from the East Zone, whose turn it was to nominate the president. The former ICC president had held the top post in BCCI between 2001 and 2004.

All the six state units from the East Zone owed allegiance to the Srinivasan camp when his loyalists met in Chennai on Sunday.

Maratha strongman Pawar, who was projected as a possible candidate for the president's post, had also met his supporters.

Dalmiya's elevation to the position was necessitated after Srinivasan was forced to stay away from the election owing to a Supreme Court directive, which reduced his role to merely voting.

The AGM itself was delayed several times due to the legal battle that Srinivasan is fighting in the top court.

The apex court is currently hearing the IPL spot-fixing scandal in which conflict of interest with regard to Srinivasan's position as BCCI president and IPL team owner came in for sharp criticism from court.

Image: Jagmohan Dalmiya (top), Anurag Thakur

Photograph: PTI