SC delays RCA election results for third time

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said that Lalit Modi is a clear winner of the Rajasthan Cricket Association`s (RCA) election results, even before the apex court - scheduled to open the result envelope today - made the official announcement.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has delayed the results of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) elections for the third time, now postponing the declaration to March 4. Earlier in the day, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had said that Lalit Modi was a clear winner of the RCA election results, even before the Supreme Court -- scheduled to open the result envelope today -- made the official announcement. BCCI said that Modi had won 26 of 33 votes but requested the Supreme Court to not officially open the result. The Supreme Court had earlier adjourned the hearing and directed the listing of the matter to January 27. A bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, which was to open the envelope that contained the results and the report of Justice N.M. Kasliwal under whose supervision the polls were held, said the court would open it on January 27. As Indian cricket`s apex body, the BCCI urged the apex court to hear it before opening the envelope and declaring the result, the court said it would first see the results and if Modi wins, then before declaring the results, it would hear the BCCI otherwise there would be no need. As the BCCI counsel pressed for the board`s plea to be heard, the court wondered if Modi was so powerful that he would certainly get elected. The RCA election became controversial after Modi joined the race for the post of the president of the state`s cricketing body. The BCCI in September 2013 had imposed a life ban on Modi for alleged irregularities when he headed the IPL from 2008 to 2010. The RCA elections were held Dec 19, 2013, under the watch of the apex court-appointed former judge NM Kasliwal. (With Agency inputs)