Veteran cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya is all set to return as Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president more than a decade after he last held the top job, emerging as the consensus candidate from incumbent Narayanswami 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.
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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 70-year-old Dalmiya, president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), controls two votes from East Zone and had on Saturday emerged as a front-runner for the top post since no other name was unanimously acceptable to all the units loyal to Srinivasan.
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Dalmiya's bid got a boost on Sunday after Pawar failed to get any proposer from East Zone, whose turn it is to nominate the next BCCI president.
All the six state units from East Zone owed allegiance to the Srinivasan camp as his loyalists met in Chennai 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 today at 3pm," BCCI sources said.
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 is set to be the treasurer.
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From the Srinivasan camp, nominees for the five vice-presidents are C K Khanna (North), Ganga Raju (South), Goutam Roy (East), T C Mathews (West), while the Central zone nominee has not been decided yet.
Maratha strongman Pawar, who was projected as possible candidate for the president's post, flew into Chennai on Friday and was closeted in a meeting with his supporters. Former BCCI president Shashank Manohar also arrived in the city for the AGM.
The candidates for the vice-president's posts from the Pawar camp are Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ravi Sawant and M P Pandove.
Dalmiya's elevation to the position has been necessitated by Srinivasan being forced to stay away from the election owing to a Supreme Court directive. Srinivasan can only vote during the polls as a member of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
In fact, the AGM itself has been delayed for a while now owing to legal battle that Srinivasan is fighting in the Supreme Court.
The apex court is currently hearing the Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal in which conflict of interest with regards Srinivasan's position as the BCCI president and IPL team owner has come in for sharp criticism.
