Billiards champion Pankaj Advani alleges violation of sports code after losing BSFI elections

Multiple-time world champion Pankaj Advani and fellow cueist Alok Kumar on Saturday alleged a violation of Sports Code in the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India polls after they lost the elections for the vice-presidents' post.

Advani and another active player Alok Kumar fought the elections for the four vice-presidents' post but could not muster enough number of votes to get elected. Advani got 13 votes while Kumar secured 11. There were 10 candidates in the fray and the top four got elected.

Later, Advani, Kumar and some others alleged that there were breaches/lapses of the legal process and cited a violation of Sports Code in the BSFI elections.

In a letter to the BSFI, they said that the federation secretary S Balasubramanian acted as returning officer despite he being an existing office bearer. It was also alleged that the electoral college was not circulated among the members till date.

They claimed that the current office bearers -- the president, the vice presidents, the secretary and the treasurer -- have voted in violation of the Sports Code.

"The executive body overstayed its term by more than eight months, which was not ratified by the AGM," they said in the letter.