Ex India captain and Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly filed his nomination for the post of Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) President in Mumbai on Monday, October 14. Ganguly was joined by former BCCI presidents Niranjan Shah, N Srinivasan and former IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai as he came to file his nomination on Monday.
The BCCI elections were scheduled to be held on October 23 but with Sourav Ganguly being the only candidate to file his nomination for the top post of Indian cricket, he is set to be elected unopposed. October 14 is the deadline to file nominations for 5 office bearer's posts up for grabs in the electoral process.
A consensus between the state units of BCCI was built during an unofficial meeting last week. Ganguly was unanimously accepted as the presidential candidate by the representatives of the state units.
With the election of the new president, Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) stint will also come to an end after 33 months.
Former India and Karnataka cricketer Brijesh Patel was tipped as a favourite to become BCCI president. Until Sunday evening, Brijesh was projected as the only presidential candidate but following a dramatic turn of events, Ganguly emerged as the frontrunner.
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Along with Sourav Ganguly, India's Home Minister Amit Shah's son, Jay Shah is set to become the BCCI secretary. Arun Singh Dhumal, brother of former BCCI president Anurag Thakur, has filed his nomination for the treasurer's position and Kerala Cricket Association president Jayesh George has filed nomination for the joint secretary's post in the apex body of Indian cricket.
Brijesh Patel is now set to become the chairman of Indian Premier League (IPL)
Shedding light on the dramatic turn of events in which he piped Brijesh Patel to become the frontrunner for BCCI president post, Ganguly said: "I didn't know I would be the President when I came down. You (the reporter) asked me and I told you it's Brijesh and when I went up and I came to know it has changed. I have never been in a BCCI election and I never knew it worked like this."
Sourav Ganguly, however, will be able to serve as BCCI president only until September 2020 due to the cooling-off period. He has been holding posts in Cricket Association of Bengal for the past five years where he currently serves as president and an administrator can only serve six years on the trot.
Ganguly said he was looking forward to taking over the top job and "do something" to correct the hampered image of BCCI.
As per sources, Ganguly on Sunday had said that, "I am happy with the appointment because this is the time when BCCI's image has got hampered and it's a great opportunity for me to do something."
Speaking to the press, Ganguly also said his first job as BCCI president would be to make sure the first-class cricketers in the country are paid well.
"We will speak to everyone first as we make a decision but my biggest priority will be to look after first-class cricketers. I had requested that to the CoA for three years and they didn't listen. That's the first thing I will do, look after the financial health of our first-class cricketers," Ganguly had said.