The 77th Annual General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, in Mumbai on Wednesday, is set to be a tame affair after reigning president Sharad Pawar and three of his confidants were declared elected unopposed for a two-year term on Tuesday.
Union Agriculture Minister and Mumbai Cricket Association president Pawar, secretary Niranjan Shah of Saurashtra, joint-secretary M P Pandove of Punjab and treasurer N Srinivasan of Tamil Nadu were declared elected without the need for any election, announced Shah, on the eve of the two-day AGM.
"All the four have been elected unopposed. The five vice-presidents (one each from the five zones constituting the BCCI) would be elected on the floor of the house tomorrow as per the practice," Shah said.
All the elected office-bearers, plus the senior and junior selection committees that would be constituted on the floor of the house tomorrow, would have a two-year term following an amendment to the BCCI constitution earlier this year.
Today's development was on expected lines given the brute majority enjoyed by Pawar and the ruling group as against a decimated opposition, led by former BCCI and ICC chief Jagmohan
Dalmiya, who is not even able to attend the meeting having been suspended on allegations of misappropriation of PILCOM accounts.
Dalmiya, who won a much-publicised election of Cricket Association of Bengal and retained his post as president recently despite severe opposition from the state's chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, has effectively been stymied by the Pawar group, led from the forefront by Rajasthan Cricket Association chief Lalit Modi and Punjab Association president Inderjit Singh Bindra.
This, incidentally, is the first AGM being missed by the CAB chief in almost a quarter of a century.
With there being no need for election to the main posts, the rest of the items on the agenda of the Wednesday's AGM are likely to be completed within one day, Shah said.
The focus would then shift to the national selection panel, which is to be reconstituted.
Dilip Vengsarkar is tipped to replace chairman Kiran More (West Zone), who has completed his term along with South Zone representative V B Chandrasekhar.
Three other members of the outgoing committee - North's Bhupinder Singh Sr, East's Ranjib Biswal and Central's Sanjay Jagdale - are expected to retain their posts.
The AGM will also take up reports of the various sub-committees for the year, pass annual accounts and reports and the budget for the next year, apart from constituting various sub-committees like selection committees (senior and junior), Finance, Marketing, Umpires, Technical etc.
"Generally the performance of the Indian team does not come under review at the AGMs," said Shah, when specifically queried whether it would be discussed at the meeting.
