The returning officer K. Rajeev Reddy on Saturday has rejected the nomination of former India cricket captain Mohd Azharuddin for the post of presidentship in the Hyderabad Cricket Association elections, scheduled to be held on January 17.
As per a report in The Hindu, Reddy said that he had to reject Azhar’s nomination as the latter had not given “a satisfactory explanation whether the BCCI ban on him in the wake of the match-fixing scandal was not lifted and that he failed to provide adequate proof that he was enrolled as a voter”.
However, sources close to Azhar have indicated that he would approach Justice Lodha panel. “The panel recommendations have clearly suggested that former international cricketers are eligible to contest and that Azhar even submitted the 2012 High Court judgment copy regarding the setting aside of the BCCI ban. But, the decision of the Returning Officer seems to be motivated and not fair,” says one official but denied disclosing his name.
However, the Returning Officer said that once the list of candidates is declared there is no way going back by him. It is for the concern parties to engage in whatever follow-up action they think is right.
This clearly means that now there will be two candidates, Vidyuth Jaisimha and Dr. G. Vivekanand in the race of the President’s position.
