Chennai: Veteran cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya is all set to return as BCCI president more than a decade after he last held the top job, emerging as the consensus candidate from incumbent N Srinivasan's camp.
The road for Dalmiya was cleared after another former president Sharad Pawar failed to get a proposer from East zone, prompting the Maratha strongman to pull out of the race ahead of Monday’s much-anticipated and much-delayed Annual General Meeting.
It has also been learnt that current Board secretary Sanjay Patel will retain his post, provided he is not entangled in a contest with Pawar loyalist Anurag Thakur. The 74-year-old Dalmiya, President of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), controls two votes from East Zone and had emerged as a front-runner for the top post since no other name was unanimously acceptable to all the units loyal to Srinivasan.
Dalmiya's bid got a boost after Pawar failed to get any proposer from the east zone, whose turn it is to nominate the president.
All the six state units from the east zone owed allegiance to the Srinivasan camp as his loyalists met here on Sunday ahead of the Annual General Meeting.
"Since this is the turn of east zone Dalmiya has both the proposer and seconder from east. The nomination was at 3pm," BCCI sources told PTI.
In the event of elections, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association chief Thakur will be the candidate for secretary's post from the Pawar camp, while Goa's Chetan Desai was the man chosen to take on Bihar Cricket Association's Amitabha Choudhary from the Srinivasan group for the post of joint secretary.
Haryana's Anirudh Choudhary will be the treasurer.
