Venkatesh Prasad. Image Credit: Deccan Herald
Venkatesh Prasad elected unopposed as KSCA President
Bengaluru
Venkatesh Prasad has been elected unopposed as the President of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) after K N Shanth Kumar’s nomination was rejected.
This marks Prasad’s return to the KSCA administration after 12 years. He had previously served as the association’s Vice President during Anil Kumble’s tenure as President.
The KSCA presidential election was originally scheduled for Nov 7, following a directive from the Karnataka High Court. From former cricketer Brijesh Patel’s camp, Kumar filed nominations as a candidate, while Prasad also filed his nomination for the presidential post.
On November 24, the scrutiny of nominations took place, and Kumar’s nomination was rejected. With no other candidates remaining, Prasad was declared elected unopposed. Kumar is former Editor of Deccan Herald and Prajavani.
Between 2010 and 2013, when former leg-spinner Anil Kumble served as KSCA President, Prasad had held the position of Vice President, while former fast bowler Javagal Srinath was the Secretary. Twelve years later, Prasad is now back in the KSCA administrative board.
Regarding the election schedule, the presidential poll was initially planned for Nov 30. However, the election officer, retired IAS officer B Basavaraj, postponed it by a month to December 30 citing some procedural issues.
KSCA CEO and another individual, B K Ravi challenged this order in the Karnataka High Court. The single-judge bench of Justice Suraj Govindraj reviewed two separate writ petitions and directed that the election be held on Dec 7. Following this, nominations were invited from Nov 22 onwards.