Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is all set to be re-elected as President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). Ganguly will file his nomination on Sunday, September 14, along with his panel. He will replace his brother, Snehasish, who is currently president of the association. Snehasish cannot continue in the post as per the Lodha Committee recommendation, and needs to have a cooling-off period after being in charge for almost six years.
It is still not clear whether there will be elections for other posts. There will be a complete overhaul of the office-bearers’ posts in the state association. All those including the president, vice-president (Amalendu Biswas), secretary (Naresh Ojha), treasurer (Prabir Chakraborty) and joint secretary (Debabrata Das) will be completing their terms. Das was suspended by the Apex Council due to allegations of financial misconduct.
According to insiders in the CAB, Sanjay Das is tipped to be the frontrunner for the post of secretary. Senior administrator Bablu Koley, who represents Kalighat Club, too is in the reckoning. But Koley who is currently 69 years of age, can be in the post for a maximum of one year as per the Lodha Panel recommendations. The association will hold fresh elections once the Sports Act comes into effect. There is general backing for Sanjay Das. He is a former cricketer and is also experienced, having served as the Chairman of Junior Cricket. He currently holds the post of Chairman of Tours, Fixtures and Cricket committee. He is also very close to Ganguly. If Sanjay Das is elected as the secretary, he will be the first representative from Eastern Railway to be an office-bearer.
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If Sanjay Das is not given the post of secretary, he can assume the role of treasurer. For the post of joint secretary, Soumik Ganguly’s name is making the rounds. He is the son of Bablu Ganguly, former secretary of CAB. However, given his inexperience, it will be interesting to see if Soumik makes it to the panel.
There are several names doing the rounds for the post of vice-president. Anu Dutta of Sir Gurudas Institute seems to be the leading the race. Also in the reckoning are Madan Ghosh of White Border, Prasenjit Mukherjee of Kumartuli Club and Sushanta Banerjee of Birbhum DSA.
There will nominations filed for the Apex Council as well. Apart from the five office-bearers, 13 new members will come in along with a representative of Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
As reported by RevSportz earlier, Ganguly will also represent CAB in the upcoming BCCI annual general meeting in Mumbai on September 28. It is learnt that the Apex Council of CAB had unanimously decided to nominate him to represent the board at the AGM. Ganguly had earlier been the President of the state association until 2019, before becoming the BCCI supremo. He was replaced by Roger Binny, 1983 World Cup winner.
Sourav Ganguly’s likely panel for CAB elections
President – Sourav Ganguly
Secretary – Sanjay Das (Eastern Railway)/Bablu Koley (Kalighat Club)
Treasurer – If Sanjay Das becomes Secretary, then Bablu Koley will be treasurer
Joint Secretary – Soumik Ganguly (Paikpara)
Vice-President – Anu Dutta (Sir Gurudas Institute)
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