Incumbent Secretary Ajinkya Naik has been elected President of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) after defeating Vice-President Sanjay Naik by a landslide margin of 107 votes. At 37, Ajinkya is the youngest ever MCA President.
Chief Election Officer JS Saharia announced that of the 335 votes cast, Ajinkha secured 221 votes while Sanjay, representing the Ashish Sheral Group, got only 114. Elections for the post of general secretary vacant when Ajinkha takes over will be held in 45 days.
“This is a victory for Maidan cricket. This is a victory for Maidan club secretaries, school and college gymkhana secretaries and all former cricketers. I am only their representative,” Ajinkha said.
“I have been serving MCA in various capacities since 2015 and it is only thanks to the Maidan Club and its secretaries that I have been able to travel the pyramidal path.”
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The Naik faction tussle was turning political with each passing day last week. While Ajinkha stuck to his guns as the Maidan representative and refrained from citing political leaders to woo votes during the election campaign, Sanjay saw BJP stalwart and BCCI treasurer Ashish Shelar backing him wholeheartedly.
But Sharad Pawar’s public distance from the election means he has not endorsed Sanjay’s candidature, and other political leaders, including senior BJP leaders in the state, are understood to be strongly supporting Ajinkya, whose father-in-law is a Congress leader.
“I had expected it but kept quiet till the results were officially announced. It was cricket and many unseen forces in the sport that supported me. But our mentor is undoubtedly Sharad Pawar. He has supported me and we have always sought his blessings.”
The elections were forced to go ahead following the death of Amol Kale on June 10. Ajinka said creating employment opportunities would be his top priority.
“We opened the knowledge centre last month and now my plan is to provide employment opportunities to young cricketers,” he said. “We are organising a job fair where we will invite all government departments, companies and as the MCA apex council we will request the HR department to provide permanent jobs to the players. Most cricketers are employed on contract basis so our priority is to secure their livelihood.”
