Rajalaxmi Deo re-elected as Rowing Federation of India president

Rajalaxmi Singh Deo was on Saturday re-elected as the president of the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) after the successful conclusion of the elections.

Rajpal Singh, G Bhasker, Souvik Ghose, and Sreekunara Kurup were elected as vice-presidents.

MV Sriram was voted as secretary-general of the RFI while Krishna Kumar Singh and Chirajit Dhukan were chosen as joint-secretaries of the federation.

The post of the treausurer was won by Nababudin Ahmed. Jasbir Singh, Venkateshwara Rao, Ismail Baig, Jacob, and Manjunatha were elected as the executive committee members.

The winning candidates will remain at the post for four years till 2024.

The elections were conducted under the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) observer K Govindraj.

In January, the Sports Ministry had de-recognised RFI for violating the Sports Code of 2011 during its elections held in December. In the RFI elections held on December 6 in Hyderabad, Rajlaxmi Singh Deo and MV Sriram were elected as president and secretary-general respectively.

But the Ministry, in a letter to the RFI president, had said that the said elections were not in accordance with the Sports Code and hence the recognition of the national rowing body stands cancelled.

The RFI elections allowed proxy voting while there was no such provision in the model election guidelines of the Sports Code. The RFI also allowed three votes per its affiliated unit while the Sports Code prescribes only two.