'I stand with wrestlers' reads Anita Sheoran's display image on her social media, among the many pictures she's posted from her career as a successful wrestler for the country, having won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
On 31 July 2023 though, she embarked on a new journey, to try and take on a different kind of opponent.
The 38-year-old is the only woman to be nominated in the 12 August WFI elections, for the post of the president, which has three other male candidates. Two of who are backed by former WFI chief Bhij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Anita in fact was also the only woman included in the electoral college of the 2023 WFI elections, that comprised a total of 50 individuals, representing 25 states. It was only from this list of 50, that candidates could file nominations or vote for the 15 positions in the WFI's Executive Committee in the 12 August election.
Though hailing from the Bhiwani district of Haryana, and currently serving as an inspector in the Haryana Police, Anita's name was put forward in the electoral college by the wrestling association of Odisha. Her candidature for the WFI president's post was proposed by Kishor Behera of Odisha and seconded by Devender of the Assam wrestling association.
Anita is believed to be the representative of the wrestlers' choice, having supported their protests against Brij Bhushan that started earlier this year. If elected, she would also become the first female head of the WFI in the federation's history. She is also one of the witnesses who corroborated the complaint of one of the six wrestlers' against Brij Bhushan, having told Indian Express earlier this summer that had received a call from the survivor after the former WFI chief forcibly hugged her in his room.
In her wrestling career, Anita enjoyed a successful wrestling career that spanned over a decade where she won multiple Commonwealth Championship medals, 2 Asian Championship bronze, apart from her CWG gold at the event hosted in New Delhi.
Prem Chand Lochab and Devender Kadian are the other candidates from her faction and are all believed to have the support of the wrestlers.
Lochab is the secretary of the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) and has worked closely with all the wrestling medallists as Vinesh, Bajrang and Sakshi are all employed by the Indian Railways and report to him. He is also believed to have played a key role in the talks between the Government and the protesting wrestlers over the last few months. He has been nominated for the post of secretary general. Devender Kadian is the faction's nominee for the post of the senior vice president.
Brij Bhushan Looms Over Elections
There are a total of four candidates who are vying to succeed Brij Bhushan Sharan at the helm of Indian wrestling after the former WFI chief was sidelined from the post following a mass protest by India's wrestlers, as six female wrestlers filed official police complaints of sexual harassment against the BJP MP.
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh himself was ineligible to stand in the 2023 elections having been the president of the wrestling federation of the maximum term of 12 years, according to the rules of the National Sports Code.
More importantly though, in the six-hour long meeting on 8 June between Anurag Thakur and the protesting wrestlers, the Sports Minister had assured Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik that Brij Bhushan, or any family member, would not be allowed to be a part of the WFI elections.
Though that promise of the minister's has been followed fully, with Brij Bhushan and his son not even being part of the voting college for the elections, it has not stopped the BJP MP from making his presence felt every step of the way, in the last few days.
Sanjay Kumar Singh and Jai Prakash are two of the four candidates for the WFI president's post and both are known to be close aides of Singh's. In fact, both are believed to have been part of the 30 June meeting held in a New Delhi hotel by Brij Bhushan that was attended by 22 of the 25 voting member states.
Apart from the two, Senior Superintendent of Police from Jammu and Kashmir Dushyant Sharma is the third candidate for the top post.
There are 15 posts in the WFI's Executive Committee with one president, one senior vice-president, four vice-presidents, one secretary-general, one treasurer, two joint secretaries and 5 executive members
There are four candidates for the post of president, three for senior vice-president, six for vice-president, three for the lone post of secretary general, two for treasurer, four for joint secretary and 10 for executive members' post.
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