2016 poll comes back to haunt AIFF

hours after the court verdict, an AIFF statement said the election complied with all regulations.

However, the nomination process under Article 25.4 of the AIFF constitution violates the sports code. It says, “A candidate for the post of President, Vice President, Treasurer or Member of the Executive Committee shall be proposed by at least five Permanent Members.”

The model election guidelines as per the sports code says a member’s nomination can be proposed by one association and seconded by another.

Emails accessed by Hindustan Times show the AIFF gave state units details of the electoral college as well as the name and contact information of the Returning Officer on Nov. 25 — 26 days ahead of the election. The AIFF statute says it should be done at least 30 days in advance.

The biggest dispute is the AIFF asking state bodies to file nomination papers for a pre-determined list of 17. On Nov. 26, vice-president Subrata Dutta sent an email to state units, listing the names. Later that day, he sent another mail. “There is a typographical error in the proposed Executive Committee. The name Mr. Deepak Sharma (North Zone) has been wrongly written as Deepak Singh. Please write Deepak Sharma in the nomination form for executive committee member from North Zone,” he wrote.

Eventually all but one from the list were elected unopposed.

Goa Football Association in a petition to the returning officer contested the election. For the first time in three decades, it failed to get a representative into any Executive Committee post.

Two controversial inductions were Delhi unit president Subhash Chopra, who had been heading his body 19 months past his term without an election, and Rajasthan unit president Manvendra Singh, who had just been elected after the state body was de-recognised for nine years. He got the post of Vice-president.

Fears over a FIFA suspension arise as Pakistan remains suspended after a disputed election.

The AIFF will have to sort out the issue quickly to avoid erosion of the goodwill built by India staging the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

It’s a slap on their face. These are cheats, who have infiltrated football. We stand vindicated.

ELVIS GOMES, Goa body president