BCCI Electoral Officer, who  had "disqualified" state association members & issued a "criteria" clarification for "ineligibility"  is now found batting on a "sticky wicket." Electoral Officer N Gopalaswamy was 'conspicuous by his absence' this afternoon when Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah, and Arun Dhumal filed their nomination papers for the post of BCCI president, secretary, and treasurer respectively.

What exactly had happened?

The trio waited for Gopalswamy in his BCCI office till 3 pm deadline and finally handed over the nomination papers to the legal team of the BCCI. Though Ganguly played down the incident, Dhumal was surprised by the turn of the events and could not understand the reason for the delay or absence. As per the notice sent by the electoral officer to the full members of the BCCI, the time for filing nomination was from 11 am until 3 pm. 

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A BCCI member, on condition of anonymity, said "there are so strict rules for the BCCI members, state associations representatives but why conventional rules do not apply to the Electoral Officer? Never before this happened. There is a proper way of conducting things. Remember, these five posts are the biggest and top most posts in BCCI and you have the Electoral Officer missing."

Though it's not mandatory that papers needed to be filed before the Electoral Officer but its a shift from convention and certainly isn't praise-worthy. 

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New office bearers of the BCCI

Sourav Ganguly is the current President of the Cricket Association of Bengal and would bring in immense experience as a player, captain, and then as a coach-mentor. He was the Chairman of the BCCI technical committee and has been a media personality for many years. When the new office bearers assume office, it will end a 33-month term of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which took the decisions in running the cricket affairs in the country post-Lodha Committee reforms. Union Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jay Shah will be the new secretary while Arun Dhumal will be the new treasurer. Dhumal is the younger brother of MoS Finance and former BCCI president Anurag Thakur.

Sourav Ganguly's first response on filing BCCI polls nomination: WATCH

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