AICF Prez Raja not member of TN chess body, can’t contest polls: Rival camp

By Venkatachari Jagannathan Chennai, Dec 5 : Retired Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, R. Kannan, the returning officer for the elections to the All India Chess Federation (AICF), is expected to finalise the electoral college to elect the new office-bearers of the federation soon, said an advocate.
“Retired justice Kannan had three meetings and both the sides presented their view points on the composition of the electoral college,” Sanjay Chadha, advocate for AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan, told IANS.
“The returning officer had a hearing on Friday. The objections have been raised as the National Sports Development Code was violated,” Chauhan told IANS.
The AICF is split into two factions – one headed by former President P.R. Venketrama Raja and the other by Chauhan. As per a recent Madras High Court order, Chauhan is the Secretary only for signing of AICF cheques.
Both the factions had put forth their arguments for and against the changes in the electoral college before the returning officer.
While the Chauhan camp wants a new electoral college to be drawn up, the Raja camp is against that.