Indian NOC Inches Closer to Presidential Ouster

(ATR) Two more national state federations have requested a special general meeting to vote out the India Olympic Association president.

IOA president N. Ramachandran is facing increased opposition to his leadership as NSFs continue to garner support for his removal.

The two most recent federations to request this special general meeting to remove Ramachandran are the Wushu Association of India and the Snooker and Billiards Association. Their addition brings the total number of state federations dissenting against Ramachandran to 16.

In order for this special general meeting to be heard, at least 50 percent of the member federations and associations must sign a written requisition for the meeting if the current president or executive council chooses not to hold it based on individual member requests.

The IOA consists of 39 member NSFs and 35 member state Olympic associations, making the required total to bring forth the requisition to 37 members. So far, 16 NSFs and 14 SOAs have joined in bringing the total to 30. Seven more member units are needed to formally call the meeting.

Once the meeting is called, the dissenting members will seek to pass a motion of no confidence against Ramachandran. In order for this motion to pass, two-thirds of the member units need to be present and voting.

The required number of votes to pass the motion is three-fourths of the total IOA members with voting privileges. The IOA currently has 183 votes, three for each NSF and two for each SOA with a few exceptions for some NSFs. It would take 138 votes to pass the motion.

IOC president Thomas Bach visited the NOC president in India a few days before calls to remove Ramachandran began to surface. During his visit, Bach asked that the Indian NOC put a stop to the infighting.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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