AITA withholds list of new office-bearers

New Delhi: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) on Saturday elected unopposed a new set of office-bearers, but the result was not declared officially as per the directions of the Delhi High Court, which is hearing a petition into Sports Code violations by the federation.

The AITA was to conduct election at its Annual General Meeting (AGM), but there was no need for voting since the Returning Officer received only one nomination for each post.

Apart from getting a new president, secretary general and treasurer, the national tennis federation elected eight vice-presidents, four joint secretaries and 10 executive members.

It has been learnt that initially Rohit Rajpal and one more candidate had filed their nominations for the post of president but later India's non-playing Davis Cup captain Rajpal withdrew his candidature.

Former Indian players Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja had sought a stay on the AITA elections, claiming that the federation was not following the Sports Code and several candidates were ineligible to contest the polls.

The High Court did not stay the elections, but asked AITA and the Sports Ministry to file their response.

"The Election shall remain subject to the outcome of the instant writ petition. Let the result of the Election be placed in a sealed cover by the Election Officer, meaning thereby, the result of the Election shall not be published," the Court said.

The matter will be heard on October 14.

Till that time, the outgoing team and the new team will jointly take care of the federation work.