NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that his defeat in the BCCI election for the president's post was ensured through unfair means, but ruled out going to the court against the outcome.
Immediately after losing narrowly to Ranbir Singh Mahendra of Haryana by 15-16 votes, Pawar said that one of their genuine votes "was deliberately negated."
Pawar said a deliberate dispute was created over the representation of Maharashtra and D Agashe, a Board member for 20 years, who was not allowed to vote.
"Ultimately, it was established that had Maharashtra been allowed to vote, I would have won by 16-15 in the normal voting," he said.
"The use of the casting vote by the President shows their gameplan," Pawar said, adding that there was an effort to create majority by those who did not have the majority.
"It was a cricket match in which the bowler and the umpire were the same person," he observed.
Asked whether he would go to court, Pawar said, "I will be the last person to move court. We will fight this type of person and will see to it that the Board runs democratically."
When his attention was drawn to the comments made by his NCP colleague Praful Patel about moving Court, Pawar said "I will request him not to think and act like that."
Pawar also raised question about the election process in the Board, saying that some serious thoughts should be given to it to correct anomalies.
"There should be a proper procedure of elections like date of nomination, scrutiny and election, but here everything takes place on the same day and the election is conducted by a person who belongs to one of the groups," he added.
Also read:
Ranbir Singh is BCCI president