The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Secretary-General, Randhir Singh, has announced his candidature for the post of president in the IOA elections to be held here on November 25.
In a communication addressed to the members of the IOA on Wednesday, Randhir, a six-time Olympian and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said that he was forced to reconsider his decision not to contest the elections by his senior colleagues in the IOA and several eminent sportspersons.
“I had made up my mind not to contest these elections last year because of the mess created by the numerous scams regarding the 2010 Commonwealth Games,” he wrote.
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Only on Tuesday, three presidents of National Sports Federations (NSFs), Akhilesh Das (badminton), B.P. Baishya (weightlifting) and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (wrestling) had requested Randhir to stick to his promise made last year to retire and urged members to support the candidature of Abhay Singh Chautala, former president of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation.
Meanwhile, on a request from the acting president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), V.K. Malhotra, the Returning Officer for the IOA elections, Justice V.K. Bali, has revised the schedule.
The nominations for the November 25 elections, which opened on Wednesday, can now be submitted up to 5 p.m. on November 16 instead of November 10. Scrutiny of nominations would be on November 17 while withdrawals would be up to November 20 when the final list of candidates would also be put up.
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Justice Bali has forwarded the model election guidelines, as per the National Sports Code, along with the revised schedule, to be displayed at the IOA office and on its website.