Nepal Olympic Committee election postponed

Election to be held within a month

KATHMANDU, Aug 7: The elective general assembly of the internationally recognized Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) scheduled for Thursday has been deferred citing it did not meet the requirements of its own statute. The NOC election will now be held within a month.

The election scheduled for Thursday was supposed to pick NOC leadership for the next four years. However, violating the provision of its own statute and protests over selection of representatives (voters) from some associations were the prime reasons that forced postponement of the election. Besides this, the verdict of Patan Appellate Court to ensure participation of some associations and directives from the Women, Children and Sports Committee of parliament to annul the election process also led to postponement of the election.

The NOC was in the mood to hold the election forcefully despite opposition by some sports associations. However, the election was put on hold after Olympic Council of Asia's (OCA's) representative Haider AHE Farman did not approve it.

"We have decided to convert the elective general assembly into annual general assembly since questions have been raised over transparency and International Olympic Committee (IOC) charter. The meeting has thus decided to hold the election within one month strictly following our statute," said NOC President Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan, who was all set to be replaced by the body's General Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha.

Among others, the protest by All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), among 26 member associations of NOC, became decisive in postponement of the election. NOC leadership said it failed to inform ANFA about the election date on time as per NOC's statute. NOC must inform its member associations of the election date at least 21 days prior to the election. NOC had submitted the letter to ANFA on July 27.

NOC leadership had held meetings with the disgruntled faction led by ANFA chief Ganesh Thapa on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. However they failed to persuade Thapa and company.

Similarly, the volleyball and badminton associations with international recognition has accused NOC of handpicking representatives.

"Only one out of 26 member associations did not get the letter of election as per statute. According to ANFA president he did not get the letter on time. Thus we have started fresh election process as per his demand," NOC General Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha said who was the lone candidate for president of the body. "We want to ensure the right of every member association," he said, adding that they shall conduct the election in a transparent and democratic manner. Shrestha also claimed that Thapa was informed verbally and there was culture of understanding among sports bodies.

Responding to the verdict of Patan Appellate Court which has issued an interim order to ensure participation of Nepal Wrestling Association, Nepal Rafting and Canoeing Association (NRCA) and Nepal Karate Federation (NKF) Shrestha said that NOC was not obliged to follow the directives. "NOC operates as per International Olympic Committee (IOC) Charter and OCA guidelines and the IOC approved statute. Thus we are not compelled to follow the decision of any other body," Shrestha said. The three associations have separate parallel bodies registered with NOC.

NOC furious over police deployment

The top brass leaders of NOC including President Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan and General Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha also vented ire over the presence of security personnel on NOC premises, Satdobato, since early morning.

Nepal Police and Armed Police Force (APF) personnel prevented NOC office bearers from entering the NOC building. According to Shrestha, they had reached the venue at 8:00 am in the morning as per the election schedule, but security personnel refused them entry. The office bearers entered the building two hours later.

"I asked security personnel at the gate reason for barring us. But they said they had orders from higher ups. They could not produce any written letter when we asked for it," said Shrestha. "I even contacted the top police officials but none of them were aware of this."

"The NOC building is also the property of IOC and the latter is United Nations (UN) affiliated body. It is similar to a diplomatic mission. The policemen couldn't even produce any official document. This is against the resolution that government itself has approved and against the rule of law and diplomatic norms," Shrestha fumed.