Dr Ashok Sigamani, son of Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy, has been elected as the new president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). The post had become vacant after the association’s former president Rupa Gurunath, daughter of former BCCI president N Srinivasan, resigned from the post citing that she needed to focus more on her business and personal commitments. The latest development comes a day after the Madras High Court gave the nod to the TNCA to conduct the elections to its Board as was scheduled on November 5, Saturday.
While Ashok Sigamani was elected unopposed as the TNCA president after his opponent Prabhu withdrew his nomination earlier this day, the association is still scheduled to conduct elections for the posts of assistant secretary and joint secretary. RI Palani, the former joint secretary of TNCA, had run uncontested for the post of the secretary.
The election to the TNCA Board assumes significance considering that many petitions have so far been moved to the Madras High Court citing violations of rules while conducting elections. On Friday, Justice R Suresh Kumar had issued the order to conduct the elections while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the polls. One of the writ petitioners had pointed out that Ashok belonged to the Villupuram District Cricket Association (VDCA), and only S Ramanan has been nominated to cast the vote on behalf of the VDCA. Hence, Ashok should not be allowed to contest the elections, the petitioner had said.
However, TNCA counsel and senior advocate PR Raman clarified to the court that while the VDCA too has only one vote like every city and district cricket association in the state, this did not mean that only S Ramanan from the VDCA can contest the polls. After hearing this argument, Justice Suresh Kumar gave TNCA the nod to proceed with the elections.
Watch Let Me Explain: Beauty Parlour Stroke Syndrome, its symptoms and how it happens