MUMBAI: In a setback to Nationalist Congress Party leader and current chairman of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), Rohit Pawar, the Bombay high court has stayed elections for the cricketing body scheduled for Tuesday.
A bench of chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and justice Gautam Ankhad directed MCA’s electoral officer not to proceed with the election of the Maharashtra Cricket Association without the court’s permission or till the next date of hearing.
“The petitioners would suffer irreparable loss if the elections are permitted to be conducted on the scheduled date and mere availability of alternate statutory remedy to them shall not suffice. This is not a rule of universal application that aggrieved parties shall have remedy only in filing the Election Petition once the election process has been initiated,” the bench said.
The high court passed the direction on a petition filed by former cricketer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kedar Jadhav, alleging that over 400 new members were inducted in the MCA under different categories in the face of the “allegations of illegality, arbitrariness and nepotism”.
The issue arose after the final voter list for the upcoming elections, published on December 29, showed a sharp increase in eligible members from 154 to 571, prompting allegations of political interference.
“More than double the number of the existing members have been introduced to the membership of the MCA in a clandestine manner and the entire process is vitiated on account of breach of natural justice”, the petition said.
Allegations have surfaced that relatives and close associates of Pawar were added to consolidate support for his re-election.
Among others, the updated voter list includes Pawar’s wife Kunti Pawar, father-in-law Satish Magar, Revati Sadanand Sule (daughter of NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule), Subhash Gulave of Baramati Agro, former MLA Atul Benke, NCP-SP spokesperson Vikas Lawande.