By IANS,
Kolkata : Jagmohan Dalmiya returned as cricket administrator after a 19-month hiatus, cruising to a 24-vote win over incumbent Prasun Mukherjee in the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) presidential elections here Tuesday.
Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) former president Dalmiya, who earlier occupied the top post in the cash-rich CAB for 13 consecutive years, garnered 71 votes, while Mukherjee secured 47 votes.
A total of 118 voters cast their franchise at the CAB annual general meeting, which had generated keen interest across the country after Dalmiya filed his papers.
He had been in the wilderness ever since he stepped down as CAB president in late December 2006, after the BCCI led by his bete noire Sharad Pawar banned him.
With Dalmiya back at the helm in CAB, the coming days would be interesting with the cricketing circles keen to gauge the board’s attitude towards its affiliate unit.
During the last days of Dalmiya’s previous CAB stint, the board had taken a hard stance against the state body, even going to the extent of not allotting international matches at the Eden Gardens here and stopping monetary grants.
Mukherjee, who got the CAB president’s chair in February 2006 and retained it in July last year – unanimously on both occasions – had made the CAB-BCCI relations a campaign plank during the last few days of the electioneering, arguing that a planned academy at Dumurjala in Howrah district would never see the light of the day if Dalmiya won the polls.
Election and counting of votes for other posts were on late Tuesday night.