BCCI does away with zonal policy for electing its president

CHENNAI: The BCCI today amended its constitution to do away with the zonal rotational policy for electing its president and allow a second term to office bearers subject to re-election.

The proposals were passed by more than three-fourth majority at a Special General Meeting, virtually paving the way for some of the senior officials to occupy or retain key positions in the Board.

The decision to do away with the zonal rotation policy means that East Zone, whose turn it was to nominate a president after N Srinivasan finished his tenure in September 2014 can nominate a suitable candidate from other zone if two state units from east propose that particular candidate‘s name.

In the new scenario also there was a chance of a contest but BCCI‘s trends show that decisions are more or less unanimous.

The decision allows Arun Jaitley to take over as the BCCI president from September 2014. Had the existing rule been in place, Jaitley who represents DDCA would have only been eligible in 2017 as it would be North Zone‘s turn then.

Another decision was to extend the tenure of office-bearers subject to re-election. This will give the likes of Dalmiya, Shashank Manohar, Srinivasan to get an additional tenure of three more years in the future.

This would also mean that Jaitley whose term comes to an end in 2017 can be re-elected and remain president for six straight years if the Northern units decide against nominating someone from a different zone.

Under the existing BCCI rules, no office bearer, barring the five VPs, are allowed to re-contest for the same post once they complete their three-year term.