From Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi: Archery is a way of life for many in the North East, including Meghalaya, and some of the region’s renowned archers have made it into international events, like the Asian Games and Olympics.
But most surprisingly, some of the key North Eastern states have been debarred in the upcoming elections for the Archery Association of India, slated to be held at the end of this month.
The national convenor of Clean Sports India BVP Rao, who will challenge incumbent president VK Malhotra, has shot off a letter to the association alleging that at least three North East states – Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura have not been allowed to participate in the elections on the grounds that their membership is provisional.
Ironically, two other states Himachal Pradesh and Uttarkhand, who were also provisional members, have been allowed to vote on October 28.
Rao has raised concerns over the barring of the North Eastern affiliate units from voting at the upcoming federation elections.
“In the sport of archery, North Eastern states have special interest as four out of six members of the Indian team at the London Olympics were from the North East,” he said, adding, “I am pained to know that AAI has rejected the voting rights of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura stating that they are still provisional members and not regular members.”
Rao also questioned how Himachal and Uttarakhand, which were in the provisional list until recently, are now regular members.
“This change was done on the AAI website a few days ago,” Rao claimed.
Rao, who is credited with the growth of archery during his 1985-1989 tenure at the Sports Authority of India, is also the vice president of the Assam Archery Association.
He created a flutter after deciding to challenge the candidature of veteran BJP leader Malhotra, the chief of AAI since 1973.
He also raised his concern over the selective approach of AAI in granting regular membership to a few individual boards while neglecting others.
AAI has given three sports Boards – Railways, Services and Ordinance Factories – regular memberships and left out Steel Plants Sports Board for reasons best known to them, he said.
He also alleged that there were a few individuals who have not contributed anything to archery in their life time and were misguiding the president.
“I am only demanding a free and fair election with wider participation through a secret ballot for the election of office bearers of AAI,” he said in a statement.
In a letter to all the associate units, highlighting the plight of AAI, Rao urged the entire archery community to involve both provisional and regular members in the October 28 election. He demanded that the elections should be free and fair.
The AAI will elect a President, Senior Vice President, Secretary General and Treasurer, along with 15 other office bearers.