Nobody from Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's family to contest WFI polls

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh - the sitting BJP MP and outgoing Wrestling Federation of India president - said Monday nobody from his family will contest the forthcoming polls after a meeting in Delhi. But the beleaguered administrator said he had support from 22 state associations and will announce his candidates for various key posts on August 12.

Addressing the media after the meeting, he claimed that 22 out of 25 state associations were present.

"Today is the last day of nominations, members from 22 state associations were here and they came to meet and are now going for filing their nominations. There is no one from my family," he said.

"Let the elections happen first and then whoever wins will do their work," he added.

Brij Bhushan also visited the Indian Olympic Association office in Delhi on the last day of nomination for WFI elections.

Brij Bhushan, who has been facing charges of sexual harassment, has been excluded from the WFI's electoral college along with his family members, making them ineligible for key posts.

The Uttar Pradesh politician, according to the National Sports Code, is not eligible to contest the poll since he has already completed 12 years as an office bearer. His son Karan Pratap, the erstwhile vice-president of the WFI, has also been excluded from the electoral college.

The Indian government dissolved the WFI relenting to the demand of protesting wrestlers - Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and Sakshi Malik. And the day-to-day affairs of the federation are being run by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appointed ad-hoc committee chaired by Bhupender Singh Bajwa.

The BJP leader's son-in-law Vishal Singh, however, will be part of the polls as the representative of the Bihar state association. Vishal is the president of the Bihar state association. But he is not in the fray for any key position.