BOA elections: Swapan Banerjee marginally wins prestige battle against elder brother Ajit

Kolkata: The much hyped Bengal Olympic Association (BOA) elections turned out to be a thrilling contest with Swapan Banerjee winning the post of secretary by a margin of 31-30 votes. He defeated Chandan Roy Chowdhury who was nominated by Swapan’s elder brother Ajit who continued as President of the association after being elected unopposed. It was a prestige battle for both Swapan and Ajit who also has happens to be the brothers of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The elections were held at the East Bengal club tent in maidan on Friday.

The elections were very keenly contested as the margin for the wins was very close. There were 13 posts for which elections were held, out of which seven candidates from Swapan’s panel emerged victorious while Ajit Banerjee had to be satisfied with six candidates from his panel. The key posts however were won by the candidates from Swapan’s panel like Jahar Das who won the post of treasurer, Md Zaved Chowdhury and Rupesh Kar both winning the post of joint secretaries. Senior member Ramanuj Mukherjee, Asit Banerjee and Bani Ghosh, who won the post of vice-presidents, belonged to Swapan’s panel. Among the candidates who won from Ajit Banerjee’s panel were Shambh Seth, Tapan Bakshi, Bijoy Mullick, Kamal Mitra, Krishnendu Banerjee and Gautam Sinha.

Rupesh Kar who represented Archery got the most number of votes i.e., 33 votes. He was elected as one of the joint secretaries. But the centre of attention was the contest for the secretary’s post between Swapan Banerjee and Chandan Roy Chowdhury. After a close contest Swapan edged his opponent by a margin of 32-29. But the IOA appointed observer Namdeo Shirgaonkar and Paresh Mukherjee of Archery association ordered for a recounting. Following a fresh recounting Swapan won the post by a 31-30 margin.

Both brothers were seen joining hands together and posing in front of cameras. Both were seen garlanded by the members. A visibly pleased Swapan later told the media that, “I have not come here to get out hit-wicket.”

On being asked that there was pressure from certain sections including his brother to stay away from the elections, Swapan said, “BOA is like a family. The elections were held fairly. We needed to work together to revive the glory in Bengal sports. It was not a fight between the brothers. We had differences till yesterday but from tomorrow we will work hand in hand.”

Ajit Banerjee, who opposed Swapan’s nomination as secretary congratulated his brother for winning the post. According to the BOA President, “We have to accept the results and go forward. There will be no problem working together with my brother. Our main objective will be to see the progress of the association.”

Both brothers complimented each other for the win. The BOA President assured, “The association will try and get the National Games hosted in the state. We need an active co-operation from the State Government. We also want all the sports disciplines which have more than one association to come under one umbrella.”

However the most surprising result for the day was the loss of former Olympian and Bengal Hockey Association secretary Gurbux Singh.

Here are the results of the BOA elections: