Defiant IOA elects Chautala as president; Bhanot is secretary-general

A defiant Indian Olympic Association (IOA) today unanimously elected Abhay Singh Chautala as its president and Lalit Bhanot as the new secretary-general, disregarding a ban imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for failure to follow its guidelines.

A day after the IOC barred IOA from the Olympic games, the Indian sports body went ahead with its annual general meeting (AGM) and elections, claiming that it has not violated any IOC guidelines.

The government and the IOA are, meanwhile, engaged in a blame game although both wanted a quick solution to the vexed issue.

Members belonging to the Randhir Singh faction stayed away from the AGM and voting as the IOC was sure to treat the election as "null and void."

With Abhay Singh Chautala , a politician and the scam-tainted Lalit Bhanot already elected as president and secretary-general, respectively, today's election was a mere formality.

"The house unanimously decided that we did not do anything wrong by going ahead with the election process. We had already communicated to the IOC that the IOA will have to go ahead with the elections under the sports code because of the Delhi High Court order," IOA acting president V K Malhotra said on the sidelines of the AGM.