OCA elections likely to be held by November

Cuttack: Elections to the post of various office bearers of Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) are most likely to be completed by the end of November as per Lodha Committee recommendations.

It was decided in the meeting of OCA council here today after all the officials unanimously agreed to abide by the reforms made by the Supreme Court appointed panel.

"We are ready to conduct the elections. We will file an affidavit in the Supreme Court in a day or two stating that we abide by the recommendations of Lodha Committee. Then all the by-laws will be changed accordingly as per recommendations. So, I think the process will be over by November," OCA working committee chairman Dhiren Palai informed media soon after the meeting.

The BCCI and all other State Cricket bodies are bound to follow the panel's guidelines, he added.

The apex court has ruled that no funds will be released to any State cricket body until they hold elections.

Though only three cricket bodies including Vidarbha, Hyderbad and Tripura have organised the polls, they are yet to get the required funds, Palai maintained.

The Odisha cricket body stopped many of its activities including district level tournaments due to non-release of funds from BCCI. It had written to Sthe upreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) expressing its inability to host Ranji Trophy and other domestic fixtures in Cuttack due to acute fund crunch.

The elections were necessitated following resignation of Ranjib Biswal and Asirbad Behera as OCA president and secretary respectively. Biswal, Behera along with 173 officials had stepped down in January after the Supreme Court dismissed BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke for not abiding by the reforms suggested by Lodha panel.

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