Srinagar: The internal power battle in J&K Football Association is again in news as the
Chairman JKFA (Chairman Election Committee) Wasim Aslam has rejected the decision of Jammu based members to appoint seperate election body for the conduct of JKFA Jammu province elections.
“A press release has been uploaded in the social media on Facebook regarding a meeting of Jammu based Members of J&K Football Association held on 13/03/2023 at Jammu. Let me remind all of you that the tenure of JKFA has come to an end on 12th May-2022 and as such calling a meeting and giving it the name of Exco of JKFA is just playing with the sentiments of the stake holders of football and there by misleading the football fraternity. There is no Executive committee as such at present, as is obviously clear from the fact that during recent elections of All India Football Federation, JKFA was deprived of its voting rights, because of non-existence of the executive committee,” statement issued by Wasim Aslam reads.
“The J&K Sports Council had issued a direction to the Secretary of J&K Football Association to hold election of JKFA in accordance with the constitutional provision of the association and guidelines of J&K Sports Council. Accordingly, Elections of Kashmir Province for 16 District/Zones were held in smooth and transparent manner in secret ballot after decades. In addition, the Chairman JKFA / Elections committee also conducted the election of few districts of Jammu province,” statement said.
The stakeholders/members of DFA Jammu were given ample opportunity for conducting elections but they always hindered the process. This so-called meeting has no jurisdiction to appoint a committee to hold elections of Jammu Province. This is nothing but a sham and mockery. It is also astonishing to see that how a person involved in FIR can call a meeting which is unconstitutional and illegal, it further said.
“JKFA in strong words condemns such actions which otherwise brings bad name to the reputation of the Association. All Hon’ble members of Jammu province are advised not to fall a prey to the evil design of these persons, who had taken the association for a ride for their vested interests,” statement said.
In the statement issued Aslam said that they will soon issue election notification for the Jammu province district bodies.
“The Election committee of JKFA will soon conduct elections of the remaining districts of Jammu Province including DFA Jammu taking all the stakeholders/Members on board. JKFA believes in having a duly elected main body so that the regular activities can start and the budding footballers are given maximum competition. All the stake holders/members are requested to lend a helping hand in order to form an executive committee and conduct of elections of JKFA,” it said.
“We are also pleased to inform you that all eligible voters and registered associate clubs who had cast their votes in the 2017 DFA Elections will be given the right to vote in the upcoming DFA Jammu elections, provided they have proper fixtures and necessary documents. We believe that it is essential to uphold the principles of fairness and transparency in our election process. Therefore, to ensure that all eligible voters and clubs have an equal opportunity to participate in the upcoming elections it is requested to all the missing clubs/ eligible associate voters in the current voter list of 2022 DFA Jammu, kindly mail their required documents on the official email id of JKFA (registered with AIFF) at: jkfaofficial@gmail.com,” it added.