BANGALORE: After the International Hockey Federation (FIH), it is the turn of the Union sports ministry to frown upon hasty elections to Hockey India.

Ministry officials weren’t too enthused by the national body’s eagerness to get the elections over with by the end of the month, saying they were not fully convinced by the processes involved in the unification of state units and in granting affiliation.

“We have certain concerns and we will not be mute spectators to what is happening,” joint secretary in the sports ministry Injeti Srinivas told TOI.

“We have to satisfy ourselves first that Hockey India has put in place procedures to allow proper unification of state units. We want to know whether they have given the erstwhile state units enough freedom to air their grievances and duly heard them. We want to make sure our observer SK Mendiratta has been kept in the loop. We are also keen to know whether HI followed the norms while notifying elections.”

The ministry’s apprehensions — raised after Hockey India sent a written request to schedule the elections on Nov 18 — are similar to those voiced by the FIH last week.

The furrowed brows in the ministry have stemmed from the fact that some of the big hockey playing states like Punjab, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and others have not been considered for affiliation. “Punjab claim they have a unified body but they do not figure in the list of 19 units granted affiliation by HI. At the same time, we are yet to ascertain whether the state units granted affiliation have got the approval from their respective state Olympic associations.

Hence, with several major hockey playing states still to become members, we feel going through the elections in a hurry can be counterproductive. We are keen that Hockey India gets an elected body as soon as possible but not at the cost of a strong foundation,” Srinivas said.

States granted affiliation by Hockey India: Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Assam, Bihar, Mizoram, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Manipur, Orissa, Nagaland, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar, Haryana, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh.

Institutional members (without voting rights): Services, Railways, Association of Indian Universities, Air India.