Confident of his loyalist Sanjay Singh's victory in the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections on Thursday, outgoing president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh urged the new office bearers to create a "conducive sports environment and compensate for any losses".
UP Wrestling Association vice-president Sanjay Singh, who is a close associate of Brij Bhushan, is up against Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran for the post of president in the much-delayed WFI elections, that are underway.
"11 months later, today is the election. In the election, Sanjay Singh, in a way, can be described as a representative of the old federation," Brij Bhushan told PTI.
"Sanjay Singh is sure to win the election, ensuring the formation of a new federation for the children. I urge them to create a conducive sports environment as soon as possible and compensate for any losses," he added.
Sanjay was part of WFI’s last executive council. He was also the national federation’s joint secretary since 2019.
Sheoran, on the other hand, is backed by the country's top wrestlers, who had accused Brij Bhushan of sexually exploiting women grapplers during his tenure.
The elite wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and World Championships medallist Vinesh Phogat, had spearheaded the agitation at Jantar Mantar against Brij Bhushan.
They had demanded that none of Brij Bhushan's family members or associates should be allowed to contest the elections.
Consequently, neither Brij Bhushan's son Prateek nor son-in-law Vishal Singh entered the fray.
"As suggested I should not involve my family in the election. That's why I did not nominate anyone from my family in the election," Brij Bhushan said.
Sanjay said his entire panel will win the elections.
"I am confident that we will win. We have the votes of 41 state units with us. Our entire panel will emerge victorious," he said.
Asked about the scheduled press conference to be addressed by the country's top wrestlers, including Vinesh, later in the day, Sanjay said, "The Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for WFI elections.
"This is a democratic country and people are free to contest elections. People are free to air views." Besides the post of the president, elections are also being held for senior vice-president (1), vice-presidents (4), secretary-general (1), treasurer (1), joint secretaries (2), executive members (5).
The election process, which was set in motion in July, had been delayed because of court cases, which had led to the suspension of WFI by the international federation, United World Wrestling, for failing to conduct fresh polls on time.
The Supreme Court recently set aside the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, paving the way for the process of electing the new WFI governing body.
The results will be declared on Thursday itself.