RFI sorts out elections controversy, Rajlaxmi Singh Deo, MV Sriram appointed as president, secretary-general

Hyderabad: Rajlaxmi Singh Deo and MV Sriram were on Saturday elected as the president and secretary-general of the Rowing Federation of India for a five-year term. [caption id=“attachment_5042561” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Besides, Rajpal Singh, G Bhasker, Souvik Ghose and Sreekunara Kurup were elected as four vice-presidents, while Nababudin Ahmed was appointed the treasurer. Krishna Kumar Singh and Chirajit Phukan were elected as the two joint secretaries. The executive committee of RFI consists of five members — Jasbir Singh, Venkateswara Rao, Ismail Baig, Jacob and Manjunatha. The elections were held under the supervision of returning officer, M Aravindan. Basketball Federation of India (BFI) president K Govindraj was the Indian Olympic Association observer appointed for the elections. The RFI elections last December got embroiled in controversy for allowing proxy votes, forcing the sports ministry to de-recognise the federation for violating the Sports Code of 2011. In the RFI elections held on 6 December in Hyderabad, Rajlaxmi and Sriram were elected as president and secretary-general, respectively. But the ministry, in a letter to the RFI president, had said that the said elections were not in accordance with the Sports Code and hence the recognition of the national rowing body stands cancelled. The ministry had also written to the IOA to constitute an ad hoc committee to discharge the functions of the RFI.