Chand leads landslide panel victory

Kathmandu, September 28

The extraordinary elective general assembly of Cricket Association of Nepal today elected a 17-member executive committee under Chatur Bahadur Chand.

Chand, who was also the president when the International Cricket Council suspended the membership of CAN four years ago, garnered 44 votes out of 59 representatives. Another contestant, also the former president, Binay Raj Pandey got 15 votes in the much-awaited elections which is supposed to end the long-standing deadlock in Nepali cricket.

The elections were held for 17 seats and Chand led the clean sweep with six members getting elected unopposed. Rajubabu Shrestha was elected vice-president with 41 votes, while another contestant Mingma Dandu Sherpa garnered just 17 votes. Shrestha was treasurer in previous committee.

Ashok Nath Pyakurel defeated Binod Kumar Mainali by 28 votes after the former general secretary garnered 41 votes. Mainali was senior vice-president in previous committee. Roshan Kumar Singh earned 45 votes in the election of treasurer’s post and he defeated Upendra Bhattarai by 33 votes.

Six members were elected unopposed — Jayanti Bhatta (woman), Bikram Bista (Sudurpaschim Province), Padam Bahadur Khadka (Karnali), Prashant Bikram Malla (Province-5), Rishi Ram Gautam (Gandaki) and Daud Ansari (Province-2). Kailash Bista, son of former National Sports Council Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista, was elected member from Province-1 after he beat Lakpa Lama by 16 votes, while Amit Bir Pandey defeated Kailash Pradhan by 20 votes in Province-3 member election.

Likewise, Durga Raj Pathak (42), Birendra Bahadur Chand (36), Madhav Kumar Karmacharya (35), Sanjay Raj Singh (34) and Karan Mahotra Chhetri (30) were elected members in open category. Dhirendra Saud, Jagat Bahadur Tamatta, Pawan Kumar Agrawal, Prafulla Vaidhya, Naresh Rana and Arjun Paudel faced defeats.

A total of 59 voters — one each from 39 districts and 20 from seven provinces — took part in the elections conducted by the ICC-formed Independent Panel in coordination with the NSC. Handing over the CAN statute to newly-elected president Chand, Pyakurel said his team always believed in rule and regulations and fought for the establishment of system. “We always advocated that the association should follow the statute and today I am handing over this to our president so that the new team won’t go beyond the spirit of statute,” he said.

ICC Finance Manager Amar Sheikh, who is also the member of the Independent Panel, hoped the governing body would consider easing the sanctions over CAN in the board meeting next month. “The last two days were very fruitful for Nepali cricket and we will report the developments to the ICC, which will meet in mid-October. CAN was suspended on two grounds — government interference and the absence of free and fair elections. Now that everything has been settled, we hope to move ahead smoothly,” he added.

The assembly was held after the ICC-formed Nepal Advisory Committee drafted the statute, which was unanimously approved by CAN general assembly, and the Independent Panel conducted elections of districts and provinces committees.

The ICC had formed the Nepal Advisory Committee after suspending the CAN membership four years ago. The National Sports Council had formed ad hoc committee under Ramesh Kumar Silwal, who is currently the Member Secretary of NSC, after declining to give approval to the elected body. Chand-led team then knocked the Supreme Court doors and the ICC board decided to suspend the CAN.

President Chand said his team would work towards revamping Nepali cricket from ground level. “First of all, we will request the ICC to lift the suspension and coordinate with the international body to prepare a roadmap and move forward,” said Chand. “We have come to this point as per the ICC guidelines and we are hoping to get good news on October 13 when the ICC board takes decision on Nepal’s issue,” he added.

Chand said his team would not leave any stone unturned to keep Nepali cricket far from controversy in the days to come and take the sport to a new height by organising more tournaments throughout the country. “We have learnt a lesson from the suspension but I am not convinced that it happened only because of the wrong deeds from the previous committee. Now, we all need to unite for the overall development of cricket and I am thankful to all the representatives for handing me the responsibility,” he added.

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