The Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed a notification which had postponed the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) elections from November 30 to December 30. [Karnataka State Cricket Association v. Electoral Officer & Ors.]
Justice Suraj Govindaraj observed that there was already a planned schedule in place for the election process and that any further delay could adversely impact players, including their ability to form teams and participate in tournaments.
The Court then issued a revised calendar of events, extending the scrutiny, withdrawal, and publication timelines, and fixed December 7 as the date for the KSCA elections.
The revised schedule issued by the Court is as follows:
The scrutiny of nominations originally fixed for November 17 will now be conducted on November 24 between 11 AM and 3 PM, with the results to be published the same day.
The deadline for withdrawal of candidature has been extended to November 26 before 3 PM and the final list of eligible candidates will be announced by 5 PM on November 26.
While the nominations already filed remain unchanged, the Court fixed December 7 as the new election date, with polling to be held from 11 AM to 7 PM, followed by the declaration of results.
The directions were issued on a petition moved by KSCA challenging a notification issued by Electoral Officer Dr. B Basavaraju by which KSCA elections from postponed from November 30 to December 30. The notification cited an active court injunction and lack of clarity from the Managing Committee as reasons for the deferment.
The Court heard extensive arguments from all parties and noted that none of them had any objections to the elections being held. The only concerns raised were regarding compliance with by-laws and Supreme Court orders.
The Court said that it would not enter into interpreting the KSCA by-laws at this stage of the proceedings and instead, issued the revised timeline for elections on the consent of all parties
KSCA was represented by Senior Advocates Jayakumar A Patil, Uday Holla and C K Nandakumar and Advocate-on-Record S Sampath.
Senior Advocate KN Phaneendra appeared for Returning officer.
Senior Advocate Arun Kumar and advocate Manu Prabhakar Kulkarni appeared for interveners.