WFI elections further delayed as Gauhati High Court sets new hearing date

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections have been delayed further with the Gauhati High Court scheduling July 28 as the next date for hearing the petition filed by the Assam Wrestling Association (AWA).

Originally slated for July 11, the WFI elections were put on hold after the Gauhati High Court granted a stay on the polls in response to the AWA's plea seeking participation rights in the election process.

The Assam Wrestling Association argued that it should be recognized as an affiliated member of the WFI with voting privileges. Despite the state association's Executive Committee recommending its recognition on November 15, 2014, the national federation denied its affiliation.

Devajit Saikia, the advocate representing AWA, informed PTI that the case has been listed for the next hearing on July 28.

"The WFI (ad-hoc committee) lawyer didn't appear before the court. Representative of the sports ministry, which is among the respondents, sought one week's time to file their affidavit. Accordingly, the court asked them to file the affidavit by July 26 and listed the matter for July 28," Saikia shared.

The reason behind the absence of the IOA ad-hoc committee's lawyer, another respondent along with the Sports Ministry, is still unknown as panel head Bhupender Singh Bajwa could not be reached for comment.

"It is the job of the ad-hoc panel to respond to the petition. We did not have a role in that. Our body is suspended, how we could interfere in this? We had made our position clear to the Returning Officer that Assam was never a full member, it had an associate membership without voting right," stated an official from the previous WFI setup.

Interestingly, the WFI conducted elections in 2015 and 2019, yet the Assam association did not approach the court then to demand full membership.

On June 25, the Gauhati High Court imposed a stay on the polls, which was the last day for submitting names for the electoral college.

The petitioner argued that unless their association is affiliated with the WFI and they are permitted to nominate their representative to the electoral college, the election process should be halted.

Before its suspension by the Sports Ministry, the WFI had set May 7 as the election date. Following a meeting with protesting wrestlers, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur announced that WFI elections would take place by June 30.

However, the IOA subsequently declared that elections would be held on July 4, while the Returning Officer rescheduled it for July 6. After five disaffiliated state bodies claimed eligibility for voting, the Returning Officer further postponed the elections by five days, setting July 11 as the new poll date.