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To facilitate a ‘deeper examination’ or ‘reconsideration’ in terms of the Bye-laws of the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA), Electoral Officer (EO) N Ramesh Kumar on Wednesday kept in abeyance the election for the post of vice-president. The polls for the other posts will be held on August 16 at Vijayawada Club, Tadepalli, Guntur.
CricBlogger had reported about the apparent discrepancy in the article “Throwing norms to the wind: Former ACA office-bearer Ramana Murthy alleges malpractice in elections” which appeared on this blog on August 11.
“It is relevant to inform that certain anonymous letters/ representations were received complaining w.r.t the Name of Representative of ‘New Cricket Club, Guntur’, where under the ‘New Cricket Club, Guntur’ had requested for change of its Representative and the said Representative had filed nomination for the post of ‘Vice-President’. The undersigned in exercise of his duties and powers under Rule 37 of the Bye-laws of ACA, considered the request of the President and the Secretary of New Cricket Club to change the Representative of New Cricket Club, Guntur. The said change in no circumstance would alter the level playing field or would prejudice the rights of any of the participating candidates and also the Electorate (34 full members of ACA),” EO Ramesh Kumar said in a notification dated August 13.
However, the officials, to make sure that they are not caught on the wrong foot, seemed to have back tracked on the nomination for the said post. “But, nevertheless, since such anonymous complaints were received and in order to avoid unforeseen and disturbing elements threatening the peaceful process of election of ACA; it is just and prudent that the said issue requires deeper examination or re-consideration in terms of the Bye-Laws, and hence, it is hereby notified that the election to the post of Vice-President and the vote of New Cricket Club, Guntur are kept in abeyance and election to the other Four (4) Posts i.e. President, Secretary, Treasurer and Joint Secretary, and 1 Post of Councilor, shall be conducted as per the schedule and strictly in accordance with the Bye-Laws of ACA, on 16th August, 2025,” the EO stated in the notification.
Not only has the election to the VP post kept in abeyance but also the vote of New CC. It is pertinent to note that the representative of New CC was changed on August 3 even though the final electoral roll was published on July 30.
The EO also took full responsibility for the entire electoral process. “I had personally supervised the entire process of receiving representations and nomination forms cum affidavits, which was conducted on 3rd August 2025 at the Registered Office of ACA at Mangalagiri Stadium, Guntur District, and at every stage of the election process, I have personally conducted and supervised the election process. The delegatee had only assisted in clerical and administrative aspects that required facilitation, under my direct supervision. The responsibility of overseeing the election process, scrutinizing nominations, and ensuring adherence to the rules and regulations remained solely with me,” he stated in the notification.
The question is can the election of only one post be kept in abeyance when the election schedule mandated a single unified poll for all the posts. Will it be a breach of procedure or become legally challengeable?
