The impasse in the Indian chess finally came to an end on Monday as incumbent Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan and his team scored a huge victory over the camp headed by sitting President P R V Raja in an online election conducted as per the directives of the Tamil Nadu High Court.
Chauhan, who got re-elected to the Secretary post, is seen as a player friendly administrator.
The outcome comes as a huge blow to the Raja, one of the biggest industrialists of Tamil Nadu, who lost by a marginal 33-31 votes to Dr Sanjay Kapoor of Uttar Pradesh.
Chauhan won 35-29 against his rival M Dongre of Maharashtra.
In the other key post Naresh Sharma from Haryana toppled incumbent Kishor Bandekar by 34-30 votes.
Team Bharat Singh won 11 of the total 15 posts comprising President, Secretary, Treasurer, five Vice Presidents, and three Joint Secretaries.
The rival camp won one Vice President and three Joint Secretaries posts.
“We are going to work as a team, I have been fighting this for almost 1.5 years now, just for justice and the good sense has finally prevailed. The justice is delivered and the Indian Chess is in good hands is all I can promise for now. All our election promises will be delivered”, said Bharat Singh Chauhan.
The AICF has split into two factions, one led by Raja and the other by Chauhan. The two have been at loggerheads for some time over various issues, including the conduct of the elections.
Several legal battles were fought in the past one and a half year and there were instances when the president and the secretary suspended each other at different times.
After a long-drawn battle, a court-appointed observer Justice (retired) K Kannan presided over the election process held online because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was the first time since 2005 that the AICF elections saw a contest as the candidates were chosen unanimously in the last 15 years.
Apart from the president, secretary and treasurer, six vice-presidents and six joint secretaries were also elected.
Team AICF
President(1): Dr Sanjay Kapoor Vice Presidents (6) : Anantha DP, Bhavesh Patel, Vipnesh Bhardwaj, Ajay Ajmera, PC Lallianthanga & Er Niapung Konia.
Secretary: Bharat Singh Chauhan.
Joint Secretaries: Rajesh R, Mahendra Dhakal, Atul Kumar, Mughaho Awomi, Diljeet Khanna & Atanu Lahiri.
Treasurer: Naresh Sharma.
