WFI elections postponed again, Brij Bhushan’s family members in voting list: Report

BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has been accused of sexual harassment by the medal-winning wrestlers. PTI image

Elections to the Wrestling Federation of India have been postponed to 11 July after objections surfaced on the inclusion of outgoing president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s son-in-law’s name in the voter list, a media report said on Thursday.

Singh’s son-in-law Vishal Singh is the president of the Bihar Wrestling Association. The wrestlers, who have been protesting since 23 April alleging Singh of sexually harassing seven female wrestlers including a minor, had been assured that neither Singh nor his knowns or family members will be made part of the new election process.

Earlier this month the protesting wrestlers had a meeting with Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and it was decided that the elections to the apex wrestling body will take place on 30 June.

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However, the ad-hoc committee nominated by the Indian Olympics Association, who had earlier postponed the election to 6 July, made the call to push it to 11 July, since there were disputes within the state bodies as to whose members will be on the list of voters that will elect the new WFI chief, Indian Express reported.

Wrestling bodies from Maharashtra, Haryana, Telangana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh approached the ad-hoc committee and petitioned to be included in the election process. They argued that they had been disaffiliated wrongly under Singh.

Some members have raised objections that Singh’s family members were being allowed to vote as they were illegally appointed to the state association.

The protests against Singh began in January earlier this year. However, the grapplers, led by Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik called off the agitation after an enquiry into the allegations was ordered.

But the wrestlers again came to protest after the report wasn’t made public and demanded his arrest. They even moved the Supreme Court to have an FIR registered against him, something the Delhi Police, the wrestlers claimed, had been refusing to do.

On 15 June, the Delhi Police filed a chargesheet against Brij Bhushan over offenses of sexual harassment and stalking.

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