AICF polls verdict on February 3

CHENNAI: The All India Chess Federation (AICF) election saga drags on. The Madras High Court is yet to pass an order on secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan’s appeal challenging an earlier verdict to uphold president PR Venketrama Raja’s decision to conduct polls in Chennai on February 10. However, there were whispers on Friday of a chance of elections being shifted to another city. The verdict is slated for Monday.

A member of the Chauhan faction said that the court has asked the two sides to discuss the possibility of having elections in another city in southern India. But he added that the opposing sides have not been able to come to a conclusion yet. A member of the Raja camp also said that the court has spoken about the possibility of a change in venue.

There was also claims from the Chauhan side that the court has asked the Raja faction to put on hold the election process, even though no order has been passed yet. If true, this would mean that finalising the electoral college, filing nominations can’t be done now. That will help the Chauhan group, who are not part of the electoral process at the moment. However, the Raja group didn’t say that they have been asked to halt the election process.