BOA Elections: Namdeo Shirgaonkar appointed observer by IOA

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Kolkata: Maharashtra’s Namdeo Shirgaonkar has been appointed the observer for the Bengal Olympic Association (BOA) elections on Friday. Shirgaonkar, who was recently appointed the general secretary of the Asian Pentathlon Federation, has been assigned by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to oversee the elections. The elections will start at 2:30 pm. There will be a total 13 posts for which elections are to be held. A total numbers of 64 voters will cast their votes. There will be no election for the post of President as Ajit Banerjee will continue for another term. The other posts for which elections will take place are for the post of General Secretary, Treasurer, Vice Presidents and Joint Secretaries.

The elections have created a tremendous interest among the sports fraternity with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s brothers contesting against each other for their own groups. The situation got so worse in the last few days that the chief minister had to intervene indirectly through her ministers. Urban Development & Minster for Municipal Affairs, Mr Firhad Hakim on Wednesday personally met the BOA President Ajit Banerjee to see that no untoward incident happens. State Sports Minister Arup Biswas has also urged to hold the elections peacefully.

Both camps are confident about the results. According to Mr Ajit Banerjee, “I am hundred percent confident of winning the elections. I have tried my best to do whatever I can for the betterment of the association in the last few years.”

On being asked whether there was any intervention from the chief minister, the BOA president assured, “No she has always stayed away from the elections. We have always got the support from the present state government.”

Asked about his future plans, a confident Ajit Banerjee commented, “My dream is to organize a National Games in Bengal. Another important agenda is to get the three Table Tennis Associations under one umbrella.”

Ajit Banerjee,s brother Swapan Banerjee, who is vying for the post of secretary has also voiced his confidence about the results. He could not be contacted as his phones were switched off. According to his close aides, he is also supremely confident about the outcome of the elections.

With both the groups flexing their muscles and slinging mud at each other, one can expect a lot of drama at the East Bengal club tent on November 11.

Below is the list of both panels:

 Panel of Ajit Banerjee   Panel of  Swapan Banerjee
Post   Candidate    Candidate
 President   Ajit Banerjee
 Secretary      Chandan Roy Chowdhury  Swapan Banerjee
 Treasurer    Subrata Dey     Jahar Das
 Hony. Jt Secretary   Sekhar C Biswas   Rupesh Kar
 Karthik Seth   Dilip Kumar Das
 Shambhu Seth   Md. Javed Chowdhury
 Tapan Bakshi    Ratan Kumar Basak