Vinod Rai says CoA members will resign from office on 23 October, no change in date of BCCI elections

The chairman of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) Vinod Rai said 23 October, the day of BCCI’s elections will also be CoA members’ last day in the office. [caption id=“attachment_4451351” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of CoA chief Vinod Rai. AFP[/caption] The Supreme Court appointed the committee, headed by the former bureaucrat Rai, to run the affairs of BCCI until fresh elections were held. After 33 months of being in charge of the board’s affairs, Rai and other members of the committee will step down and a new set of administrators will take charge. Speaking to The Times of India, Rai said, “We (CoA members) will demit that very evening (23 October).” The elections were scheduled for 22 October but they have been rescheduled by a day in the wake of assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. Rai also told the newspaper that, contrary to some reports, CoA never asked for postponement of the elections and the date – 23 October – is fixed. “It is not correct that the CoA asked for deferment of elections. It has only been rescheduled by one day because of the state elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. The elections will certainly be held on October 23 and that date is final,” Rai added. Rai added that BCCI’s amicus curiae PS Narasimha was also involved in the process and all the decisions from CoA’s office were taken in consultation with him. The deadline for states to conduct their elections has also been extended to 4 October. The statement , which came out on 24 September, from CoA read, “Further, in order to facilitate and secure compliance by various State Associations and for conduct of elections in the member State Associations in accordance with the (Supreme Court) judgment dated 18th July 2016 and 9th August, 2018 and any further order and judgement that the Hon’ble Supreme Court may be pleased to pass, the COA hereby extends the date for completion of election by member State Associations to 4th October, 2019.”