Mohammad Azharuddin elected President of Hyderabad Cricket Association
Hyderabad: Mohammad Azharuddin was on Friday elected President of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), the former India captain's life coming full circle years after being indicted for match-fixing and banned forever from playing.
The stylish batsman of yesteryears polled 173 votes while his opponent Prakash Chand Jain got 73 votes. His entire panel won their respective contests.
The victory marks his official entry into cricket administration two years after his nomination was rejected on technical grounds.
He vowed to work for the welfare of his association.
"If there is progress in cricket, there will be progress in association. If association is healthy, every person will be happy. The association had not been healthy for the last three. Now, it is all clear and we will move ahead," Azharuddin said.
The 56-year-old, who has also served as a Congress MP from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, led India to a spate of Test series wins over England, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at home in the 1990s.
The former batsman fell from grace after he was implicated in the 2000 match-fixing scandal that shook the core of Indian cricket. However, the Andhra High Court had ruled that the investigation against him was not conducted properly.
He praised former Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath, who oversaw the HCA polls.
"When election is fair, my nomination could not have been rejected (two years ago), but (now) fair election happened. Sampath sir followed clear-cut rules and regulations. That's why a proper election happened.
"No problem occurred in the election and I am very happy and thankful to members and secretaries (of districts), they elected and made me HCA president," Azharuddin said.
Years ago, the operative part of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report had stated: "The evidence against Azharuddin clearly establishes the fact that he took money from bookies/punters to fix cricket matches and also the fact that the 'underworld' had approached him to fix matches for them."
Azharuddin, who appeared in 99 Tests and 334 ODIs, filed his nomination for the president's post in the HCA last week.
The other elected office bearers include John Manoj (vice-president), R Vijayanand (secretary) and Naresh Sharma (joint secretary).
Azharuddin's nomination paper for HCA president's post was rejected in 2017 by the Returning Officer on the ground that he could not produce proof of BCCI lifting the life ban on him.
One of the most graceful batsmen of the mid 1980's to late 90's, Azharuddin started his career with a hat-trick of Test hundreds against England during the 1984/85 season.
His wristy stroke-play was a treat to watch and he could hit anything bowled on the imaginary fifth off-stump towards deep mid-wicket boundary with ease.
He was possibly the best all-round fielder those days and whose reflex single action throw from close-in could only be matched by Ravindra Jadeja among current cricketers. Also the swagger with his collar-up and the gibberish manner in which he spoke had its own charm.
Azharuddin and Ajit Wadekar formed one of the first successful coach (cricket manager)-captain partnerships in the early 90's when India were invincible at home with Anil Kumble at his deadliest best.
He led India in an unprecedented three 50-over World Cups (1992, 1996, 1999) while others like S Venkatraghavan, Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni captained in two editions each.
The last of his 22 Test hundreds came against South Africa in his 99th and final match after which he was indicted for match-fixing.
While his fall from grace was quick, the road to redemption was filled with a lot of problems, including personal tragedy, and controversies that never seemed to leave him.
He lost his younger son Mohammed Ayazuddin in a bike accident in 2011.
He tried to enter sports administration through the Badminton Association of India but was found ineligible.
Even though the court termed his ban "illegal", the BCCI never fully warmed up to him and he is yet to get his pending payments, one-time benefit cheque and pension.
By 2016, he was gradually getting acceptance in the system and would get invitations for various BCCI functions, including the annual awards night.
As the top representative of Hyderabad CA, he will now become relevant as the N Srinivasan camp and its rivals fight for power in BCCI.
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
