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NEW DELHI — The returning polling officer on Saturday confirmed that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections will be held on December 21 and the results will be declared on the same day after counting of votes.
This comes after the Supreme Court recently set aside the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, paving the way for the process of electing the new WFI governing body.
"All steps up to the stage of preparation and display of the final list of contesting candidates were completed (on Aug 7) and various activities like polling, counting of votes and declaration of the result alone were left," said a statement issued by the returning officer for the polls.
"The elections of the WFI were stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 11.08.2023 just a day before the poll and therefore, polling could not be held on 12.08.2023... the Supreme Court has vacated the stay orders and therefore the remaining steps like polling etc. will now recommence on 21.12.2023 as per the following revised schedule," it further added
Election procedures will comply with the essential requirements and conditions of the WFI's ratified constitution as well as the Model Guidelines, 2011 published by the Indian government's Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
United World Wrestling (UWW) provisionally suspended the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with immediate effect for not conducting elections on time. The national wrestling governing body was supposed to conduct elections in June. Unfortunately, these elections have faced multiple delays due to a series of legal challenges put forth by different state units.
Then, the elections to pick the new administrators were slated to be held on August 12 but got further delayed after Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed WFI elections till further orders following a petition of the Haryana Wrestling Association (HWA).
Head of the ad hoc panel Bajwa announced that the polling will take place at this location at Olympic Bhawan, with the "agenda/items will be the same as per notice issued earlier on July 21st, 2023."
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