FORMER India captain Dilip Vengsarkar’s defeat in the recent Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) election once again underlines the fact that however great a sportsperson you are, it doesn’t translate into votes in elections to sports bodies.
Vengsarkar was immensely confident of his victory, but in the end Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh emerged the winner by 47 votes in a 329-member house.
A supporter of Vengsarkar said his defeat was mainly because of deceit by people who went against him hoping they would gain more by supporting his opponents.
He was not off target. Cricket in India is a huge industry and every move that people make is often governed by commercial considerations.
The MCA is no different. People manipulate rules to get hold of more than one club so that they have a bigger say in elections.
“There are some people, either MCA office-bearers or part of its various committees, who can swing the outcome by managing votes,” a former India player who supported Vengsarkar said.
“Many people have purchased more than one club. There is a person who owns four clubs and he also controls the six clubs that his friend handles on paper. Such people gang up for commercial reasons,” he told Mail Today.
Another person got the post of the logistics manager of the Indian team by virtue of the number of votes he controls. Since posts such as those of the logistics manager or team manager are decided on a series-to-series basis and carry handsome monetary income besides five-star treatment and Tendulkars and Dhonis for company, people like him are obliged for favours done during elections.
But what has hurt Vengsarkar the most is that people went back on their word. “He personally met all the voters and visited each one’s house on occasions such as weddings, pujas. They promised to support him but eventually did not,” he said.