Wrestling Federation of India's 11 July Election Stayed by Gauhati High Court

The court ordered the respondents to postpone the election until the next date for hearing, set on 17 July.

(Photo: PTI)

The Gauhati High Court on Sunday postponed the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections, set for 11 July, on a petition by the Assam Wrestling Association.

The court ordered the respondents, the WFI's ad-hoc body and the Sports Ministry, to postpone the election until the next date for hearing, set on 17 July.

In its petition, the Assam Wrestling Association claimed that despite recommendations made by the then WFI Executive Committee at the association's General Council meeting in UP's Gonda on 15 November 2014, it had been denied membership despite being entitled to it. The WFI has since held two elections, in 2014 and in 2019, electing Brij Bhushan Sharan, in which Assam was not invited to vote.

As the ad hoc commission had set 25 June as the deadline for submitting names for the electoral college, and 11 July would have been the date of the elections to choose the new governing body, the state association argued that the election process ought to be put on hold until their association was made part of the WFI and they had the ability to choose its representative in the electoral college.