WFI elections delayed with Guwahati High Court setting July 28 next date for hearing

The already delayed Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections were pushed further on Monday by the Guwahati High Court. The court fixed July 28 as the next date of hearing in the petition filed by Assiam Wrestling Association. The WFI elections were due to be conducted on July 11 but the Guwahati High Court had stayed the polls after AWA had filed a plea seeking right to participate in the election process. The state association had claimed it was entitled to be an affiliated member of the WFI, with voting rights, but it was denied recognition by the national federation despite it being recommended by the Executive Committee on November 15, 2014. “The WFI lawyer didn’t appear before the court today. Representative of the sports ministry, which is among the respondents, sought one week’s time to file their affidavit. Accordingly, the court asked them to file the affidavit by July 26 and listed the matter for July 28,” said Devajit Saikia, the AWA advocate to news agency PTI. AWA are arguing that unless their body is affiliated to WFI, and they can nominate a representative for the electoral college, the election process should be stalled. WFI, before being suspended by the Sports Ministry, had set May 7 as the election date. It was then moved to June 30 after Sports Minister Anurag Thakur met with protesting wrestlers. IOA then announced that the elections will take place on July 4 but the Returning Officer set July 6 as the new date. However, after five disaffiliated state bodies made a claim to be eligible for voting, the Returning Officer further pushed the date by five days to July 11.