Hockey India asks units to pick members for AGM

After two postponements, Hockey India has finally set the ball rolling for its much-awaited elections by issuing notices to affiliated state units to nominate two members by Thursday for its February 7 Annual General Meeting.

The government-appointed observer for Hockey India polls S K Mendiratta said that last Wednesday, HI issued the mandatory 21-day notice to all its affiliated units to nominate one male and one female member for the AGM.

"The final list of all the AGM members will be prepared on January 22 and the nominations for various posts can be filed between January 23 and Jan 30," Mendiratta said.

"On January 31 scrutiny will be done and February 2 has been kept for withdrawal of nominations," he added.

Mendiratta said voting will be done through secret ballot and the entire process will be a transparent one.

The HI elections, scheduled for November 18 last year, were first pushed to January 29 after the Sports Ministry asked the national body to first sort out its affiliation problems before conducting the polls.

But the elections had to be deferred once again after HI failed to give the mandatory 21 days notice, as per its constitution, to the Sports Ministry as well as state units.

Subsequently, HI set February 7 as its final election date after granting affiliation to its Delhi and Punjab units at a meeting here last week, also attended by International Hockey Federation vice president Antonio von Ondarza, who is also the FIH-appointed observer for the polls.