New Delhi: The successor to Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh – who is facing multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment – as Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief will be either Sanjay Kumar Singh or 2010 Commonwealth Games champion Anita Sheoran.
According to PTI, all other candidates have withdrawn from the race. The final list of the candidates in the fray will be announced on August 7. Elections will be held for the posts of president (1), senior vice-president (1), vice-president (4), secretary-general (1), treasurer (1), joint secretary (2) and executive members (5).
Sanjay, according to The Quint, has been associated with the WFI since 2011 and has been its joint secretary since 2019. He is a supporter of Brij Bhushan. “The nomination has been met with scrutiny, owing to Sanjay’s association with Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh,” the portal reported. “…Whilst it was previously announced that neither Singh, nor any of his family members, will be contesting elections, the new presidential candidate is believed to be a close aide of his predecessor. On a social media account, the presidential candidate also shared posts in support of Singh during the wrestlers’ protest.”
Sheoran is the only woman who is contesting these elections, which will be held on August 12. Sheoran “filed her nomination as representative of the Odisha unit even as she is from Haryana and employed with the state police,” PTI reported.
For several of the other posts too, Brij Bhushan loyalists are in the running, PTI reported. A source close to the Brij Bhushan camp told the agency that 16 candidates from the group will contest all 15 posts, and expressed confidence that it will “emerge victorious”.