Former India captain Dilip Tirkey was elected as the Hockey India president. In the elections, he was unopposed for the top job on Friday.
Hockey India elections were scheduled to be held on October 1. However, the results were declared in advance as there were no contestants for any of the posts. This paved the way for the incumbent candidates to be elected unopposed as per the federation's Constitution.
Earlier on Friday, Uttar Pradesh Hockey chief Rakesh Katyal and Hockey Jharkhand's Bhola Nath Singh, who were in the fray for the president's post, withdrew their nominations. Following their withdrawal, Tirkey was elected as the president.
Bhola Nath has been elected unopposed as secretary general. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has approved Tirkey and his team's appointments.
In a letter, the FIH said that when the number of contesting candidates for any post is equal to or less than the number of posts, they shall be deemed to have been elected unopposed as per election by-laws on the Hockey India website.
"Therefore, we are pleased to observe that the Executive Board of Hockey India stands elected as has been put on the website of Hockey India and that the posts election was unanimous for all posts," it said.
"We are delighted that the election process has been completed and a democratically body is now in place. We extend our congratulations to Dr. Dilip Tirkey, Mr. Bhola Nath Singh, and Mr.
Sekar J Manoharan and look forward to working with them closely.
We have appreciated the effective efforts of the CoA over the past couple of months to restore the democratically elected body in Hockey India," the letter stated.
(Inputs from PTI)
