Para Sports
Returning Officer mandates Sports code strictly for PCI elections in March
Returning officer for the elections of the Paralympic Committee of India has mandated Sports code strictly for the same.
The returning officer for elections of the suspended Paralympic Committee of India announced on Saturday that the elections will be conducted strictly under the Sports Code and the contestants as well as the voting members must adhere to the age and tenure guidelines.
Former Election Commission of India Secretary General Umesh Sinha, who was appointed the returning officer on Wednesday, said in a notification that candidates can file their nomination papers from February 27 to 29.
The Electoral College members will be notified by Sinha on Monday after receiving the list of names from the PCI.
"...if the representatives of the State Associations to the National Federation and the representatives of the District Associations/bodies to the State Association are not compliant of the age and tenure restrictions imposed by the Sports Code, then they shall not constitute the electoral college and shall be disqualified from contesting for any post of the executive committee and also from casting their vote for such an election," Umesh wrote in Saturday's notification.
He cited a judgement of the Delhi High delivered on February 10, 2023, to emphasise the point that the representatives of each member of the General Assembly must comply with the age, term, and tenure provisions of the National Sports Development Code, 2011.
"Therefore, the PCI is obliged to comply with the stipulations of the above judgement of the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi. Consequently, the members of PCI shall ensure that each of their nominated representatives for forming part of the PCI Electoral College necessarily ensure that such Age, Term, and Tenure provisions are followed," the notification said.
"Whichever members of PCI have already sent their nominations for the electoral college for PCI elections but any of their nominated members do not meet the above parameters... the members of PCI shall substitute such nominations by another representative (s) who comply with the said stipulations.
"All affiliated members shall give a certificate to the effect that representatives nominated by them comply with the provisions mentioned above." As per the Sports Code of 2011, the president of the National Sports Federation (NSF) can hold office for a maximum period of 12 years with or without a break.
The secretary and treasurer may serve two consecutive terms of four years each after which a minimum cooling-off period of four years will apply before a fresh election can be sought.
The president, secretary, and treasurer will cease to hold that post upon attaining the age of 70 years.
Sinha also informed that the elections of the PCI Athletes' Council will also be conducted soon after the March 9 polls "as per the PCI Byelaws and by the guidelines laid down in Part IX of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Constitution".
The PCI elections will be held for the posts of one president, two vice presidents, one secretary general, one treasurer, two joint secretaries, and five executive committee members.
