Mander appointed RO

NEW DELHI: G.S. Mander has been appointed as the Returning Officer (RO) for the elections to Hockey India (HI) to be held here on February 7.

Mander, who is the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), was nominated for the post by A.K. Mattoo before he quit as the HI president.

In its guidelines for the HI elections, the Union Sports Ministry had stated: “The Returning Officer should in no way be connected with Hockey India or the Indian Olympic Association and should be preferably a retired High Court/District Court judge.”

Mander is a vice-president of the IOA. The Government is likely to have objection to his appointment.

The election schedule has been announced, according to which the electoral college would be released on January 21, the nominations could be completed between January 23 and 30, the scrutiny of nominations and final list would be on January 31, withdrawal of nominations on February 2 and the elections on February 7.

According to a list being circulated by an official on Monday, 34 units have been mentioned, along with the names of their principal office-bearers, as affiliated States and boards.

Thirty States, including Jharkhand and Kerala, have been listed while the odd one out is Madhya Pradesh. — Special Correspondent