Gill’s faction has been claiming it has 21 supporters and the AGM held on 19th September had quorum. Now that the official list of attendees are available with s2h, we try to make out the real picture.

Before that one might bear in mind two officials authorized by the respective AGM of the State Hockey Association (SHA) are eligible to attend any IHF’s AGM. Its tradition both President and Secretary attend them.

Gill faction claims 21 SHAs attended the AGM.

Why 21, not any other number? Because, the IHF has an electoral college of 41 — and 21 is the magic simple majority!

The AGM minutes claim 16 SHAs attended the AGM with five apologies. However, only one written apology is enclosed.

That one apology letter is of the IHF treasurer JN Tyagi, which cannot be counted as SHA’s. Firstly, the apology was dated 19th, i.e. two days after the said meetings. Secondly, Thyagi’s letter is on the official stationery of IHF not on the UPSHA’s, which means UPSHA has nothing to do with Tyagi’s letter.

Mumbai Hockey Association is one of the five apologies. But said Kher Singh, Secretary of the MHA, “when Gill phoned me, asked me to attend the meeting I simply said sorry I can’t. If he meant that is apology that is his conclusion, not mine”.

Fittingly enough, Mumbai Hockey Association’s letter of apology is not there. The other three apologies are from Tripura, Mizoram and MP SHAs for which s2h could not ascertain facts. It is suffice to say at least the above mentioned two are bogus apologies.

Now comes the question of those attended.

Of the 16 SHAs attended, both Bhopal and Maharashtra SHAs are not the ruling SHA but a faction within concerned SHA.

Single representative was present with respect to six SHAs — Kerala, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Manipur, Haryana and JK. It is an indication that there is no unanimity in these SHAs as to which side to go.

It is credible news that those who count in Kerala and Karnataka SHAs are anti Gill. J&K is playing double game. Chandigarh, of which Chander Shekar is the president, is undecided but definitely not in the Gill’s camp as his outbursts in the EC and AGM are any indication. Haryana is definitely with Gill. The case of Manipur could not be ascertained. Any case, out of the six , even optimistic estimation is that only two is with Gill, two on the other side, with two undecided.

Hyderabad, Delhi, Orissa, Tamil Nadu (TNOA might appoint adhoc committee thereby spoiling Jothi’s dream), Himachal Pradesh and Punjab are surely in Gill’s kitty. This figure is just six.

The four government controlled voting members of the IHF — Railways, Indian Airlines, Universities and services – chose to ignore the AGM and are not with him.

So even on an optimistic scale, Gill’s number does not even touch double digit, does not even measure to required quorum.

But, is Gill so stupid as to keep his faction going in this bleak scanario? Definitely not. He counts on the poor strategist on the JB Roy faction, still poorer set up in the IOA’s Ad-hoc Committee and more than anything else his fond hope of entangling the whole issue in a cobweb of legalities.

But manipulation cannot stand against massive majority his rivals have coped up, using the national outcry against the 14-year misrule of Gill.