After dragging Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar to court over his election to the position of president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, BJP leader Gopinath Munde on Monday raised issues about the alleged irregularities in the postponement of the election.
During the arguments in the city sessions court, Mr. Munde’s lawyer Niranjan Bhadang wondered how no other member of the managing committee knew of the criteria for the election except Mr. Pawar. He alleged that Mr. Pawar caused the postponement of the election until he could ensure that his name was added to Mumbai’s electoral list.
“The minutes of all the meetings [of the managing committee] are here. No one else except Mr. Pawar knew of the criteria that the name should be in the electoral list [of Mumbai] for contesting the election,” he said.
“We don’t know how the date of October 18 [2013] was arrived at [to hold the election]. When there was a date given and then there was a delay caused, it cannot be said that it was a coincidence,” he said.
Referring to Mr. Pawar, Mr. Munde’s lawyer said: “It was to your benefit that the date was decided as October 18. You have been instrumental in deciding everything. The elections were delayed to ensure your name in the electoral list. The day your name was enrolled in the electoral list, the date of election was decided.”
The city sessions court has so far not given any interim relief to Mr. Munde even as the arguments over his petition continue.
