Kolkata, July 26 (IANS) Jagmohan Dalmiya's dissident group Saturday got a slight advantage ahead of the July 29 Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) elections with a vice presidential candidate of the ruling group barred from attending the association's annual general meeting (AGM).
The court appointed observer, retired judge Santosh Kumar Fouzdar, struck off Malda District Sports Association (MDSA) nominee Subhasish Sarkar's name from the rolls after it was found that his papers were not signed by the association's president.
Sarkar contested this, saying the MDSA vice president had authorised him to attend the AGM, but Fouzdar ruled this was against the rules.
The Dalmiya group also demanded that the nomination of Indranath Dey, another vice presidential candidate from the ruling group, be cancelled as his club, Howrah Union, had links with the ZEE-promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL) - a rival of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)-sponsored Indian Premier League (IPL).
However, Dey successfully contended his club had inked a five-year sponsorship agreement not with the ICL, but with Mithun Chakraborty's Royal Bengal Tigers, and that too, for soccer.
The total number of affiliates now eligible to vote in the elections is 119.
Dalmiya is engaged in a battle royale with incumbent Prasun Mukjerjee for the president's post.
