Bringing an end to an imbroglio lasting over a year and a half in the All India Chess Federation (AICF), Bharat Singh Chauhan and his supporters trounced outgoing president P. R. Venketrama Raja’s panel 12-3 in the online elections held on Monday.
Madras High Court-appointed returning officer K. Kannan announced the results and brought the curtain down on the bitter, closely contested elections.
Chauhan gained another term as the secretary by beating his old-time companion Ravindra Dongre 34-29.
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Narrow win
Sanjay Kapoor, who entered the fray for the post of the president at the last minute after switching sides, defeated Raja by the narrowest of margins, 33-31, after all 64 votes were polled.
For the post of the treasurer, Naresh Sharma received 34 votes to dethrone Kishor M. Bandekar, who got 30.
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Riding on the solidarity shown by the North-Eastern states, among other factors, the Chauhan faction won five out of the six posts for vice presidents and four out of the six for joint secretaries.
Significantly, in response to an appeal made by Chauhan, on Monday morning, Kannan ensured the voters got an on-screen confirmation of the choices made by them.
As a result, the voter can retain the image of the on-screen confirmation for future reference, if needed.
Now the results will be submitted by the returning officer to the Madras High Court.
Final results:
President: Sanjay Kapoor.
Vice-presidents: D.P. Anantha, Bhavesh Patel, Vipnesh Bharadwaj, Ajay Ajmera, P.C. Lalianthanga and Niapung Konia.
Secretary: Bharat Singh Chauhan.
Joint-secretaries: R. Rajesh, Mahendra Dhakal, Atul Kumar, Mughaho Awomi, Diljeet Khanna and Atanu Lahiri.
Treasurer: Naresh Sharma .