On September 29, less than a week before the first Test between Australia and India gets under way at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, there is still no knowing who will make up the Indian squad to take on the world's strongest cricket team. Why? Because the selectors have not met to pick the squad. Why? Because the selectors who will make that choice have not been selected. Why? Because the BCCI annual election is on, the spoils have to be divided and go away now, don't be silly, there is no time for cricket.

If anyone ever wanted to know why a country with the richest board and the most enthusiastic fans does not produce an awe-inducing cricket team, the answer was to be found inside the conference halls of the Taj Bengal in Kolkata on day one of the BCCI election. All the key ingredients-raised voices, allegations, lawyers waving papers and people being thrown out or let in-were in the melting pot. But even by its normal standards, the 2004 elections were singularly eventful. Once more they were proof of the outgoing president Jagmohan Dalmiya's stranglehold on the Indian cricket Board.

PICTURE SPEAK
NEW MAN IN Mahendra (in spectacles), a 30-year veteran in the BCCI, denies he is just a proxy for Dalmiya	THIRD UMPIRE Even after stepping down Dalmiya remains the focus of attention

Two weeks before he went into the assembly polls in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar, Union agriculture minister and monotonously monikered "Maratha Strongman", lost an election of what is in effect, a small private club which controls a very valuable property. He was beaten 16-15 to the post of BCCI president by Haryana Cricket Association Secretary and BCCI Vice-President Ranbir Singh Mahendra. Mahendra was backed by Dalmiya's muscle and his ability to network through the ranks of the BCCI and also by the power he enjoys of being one man with four votes. When asked to describe Mahendra, son of former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal, one Board official said, "pliable". India captain Sourav Ganguly once even called him "a shame to Indian cricket".

While these descriptions do not flatter Mahendra, the 16-15 margin of victory does. Take Dalmiya out of the equation and it will read 15-12 to Pawar. Dalmiya first voted as the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal and the National Cricket Club, one of the three non-Ranji playing units that have a voting right. Then he cast what is called the chairman's vote, the vote he enjoyed in his capacity as BCCI president. Finally with the tally tied at 15-15, Dalmiya exercised his right to break the deadlock with the casting vote, and virtually handed Mahendra the cricket board on a platter.

The hammer came down on Pawar's hopes when Dalmiya was first able to obtain a stay on a court appointment of a commissioner to oversee the BCCI elections. The stay helped Dalmiya, a master of legalities, gain control of the house and strike the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) off the list of voters because its Pawarite president Dyaneshwar Agashe had goofed on the paperwork.

QUEERED PITCH

L0YALLY YOURS: Pawar canvassed for support from all Congress chief ministers and even met Sonia Gandhi. SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT: Promised support by Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S.R. Reddy, the state association chief did not turn up for the election. NO MINISTER: Andhra Labour Minister and Hyderabad Cricket Association President G. Vinod was in Kolkata but didn't vote. Dalmiya loyalist and HCA Secretary Shivlal Yadav did. OFFICIAL SERVICE: There is no telling where the government votes went.

Following a court dispute with a rival group the Agashe-led MCA has been under the supervision of two observers, former Union cabinet secretary B.G. Deshmukh and former Mumbai police commissioner M.N. Singh. The MCA's dismissive treatment of the observers has meant that when the MCA managing committee took the decision to back Pawar in the elections, the observers whose signatures on the minutes give legitimacy to the meeting were not present.

Agashe arrived in Kolkata without the letter that would legitimise his right to vote and was asked to leave the room. It was narrow in the end, but Dalmiya again had found a way. The team which will work alongside the new president has raised consternation among the minority of forward-thinkers in the BCCI. Today the Board is under siege and the number of fires it has to fight increases every day. The cancellation of the TV rights tender has led to a court case. There is a stay on Dalmiya's appointment as BCCI patron-in-chief and the Board's status as an autonomous body answerable to no one is being questioned again in the Supreme Court. At a time like this the board will be served by a new executive team of Mahendra, S.K. Nair, Jyoti Bajpai and Gautam Dasgupta, which in the words of one sardonic official, "could not have handpicked better by head hunters". Mahendra denies he is merely a proxy for Dalmiya and that his men are up for the job.

PICTURE SPEAK

STUMPED Pawar lost the race

These elections have proved the influence of cricket on Indian polity rather than the reverse. More than the Maharashtra assembly elections, the buzz in state capitals was the BCCI elections for days before the actual event. When it was over, opinions were divided as to whether party lines had influenced voting or not. There was talk that the Congress and the BJP had united to stymie the Pawar-led NCP, which if even remotely true could witness severe consequences as Maharashtra goes to the polls.

In this unusual contest, Pawar tried to cover all bases. He canvassed support amongst all Congress chief ministers and even met Sonia Gandhi to collect the numbers before deciding to stand for election. "Anyone across the country who could influence a vote had been tapped," said one official. Pawar's election managers, including former BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur, who seemed confident of 19 votes, believe a last-minute change of heart hurt the seasoned politician's chances.

The opposition could not capitalise on Dalmiya's shrinking support base, the narrow win coming after private predictions of 18 votes. Potential floor-crossers could include Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Assam for Dalmiya. The loyalty of Vadodara, Goa and Madhya Pradesh remain unknown. Yet, despite all predictions of an election wipe-out, Dalmiya was always confident of victory. As early as three days before the election he told worried associates that he and his men would end up on the winning side. The real loser, however, remains Indian cricket itself.

Index