Chandigarh: The much-anticipated elections of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), scheduled for Saturday, have been put on hold by the Punjab and Haryana High Court following a petition from the Haryana Wrestling Association (HWA). The HWA challenged the decision to allow the Haryana Amateur Wrestling Association to participate in the WFI polls.

Advocate Ravinder Malik, representing the Haryana Wrestling Association led by Member of Parliament Deepinder Hooda, emphasized that the HWA is a registered society within the state and holds affiliation with the WFI. He noted that as per WFI rules and its constitution, any registered affiliated body is entitled to send two representatives to vote in the WFI elections.

However, a competing body, the Haryana Amateur Wrestling Association, has also asserted its affiliation with both the WFI and the Haryana Olympic Association. This association claims that the HWA lacks the right to participate in the election process due to its alleged lack of affiliation with the WFI.

Challenging this assertion, Malik, representing the HWA, stated, “We have contested the returning officer’s decision in the High Court, asserting that although the Haryana Amateur Wrestling Association might have an affiliation with the WFI, it lacks affiliation with the HOA. This implies they are not qualified to partake in the polling process.”

Malik further noted that allowing the Haryana Amateur Wrestling Association to take part in the election process could result in bias and render the WFI elections invalid.

Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj of the High Court has issued an interim stay on the WFI elections, citing concerns of potential prejudice.

The WFI elections, initially scheduled for July 6 by the Indian Olympic Association-appointed ad-hoc panel governing the WFI, were later rescheduled to July 11 following appeals from disaffiliated state bodies. These state bodies, hailing from Maharashtra, Haryana, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh, claimed that their disqualification was unjust.

While the panel listened to the grievances of the affected state bodies, the elections could not proceed on July 11 due to the Gauhati High Court’s intervention following a plea from the Assam Wrestling Association (AWA) to participate in the poll process.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court allowed the elections to proceed on August 12 after staying the Gauhati High Court’s order. However, the recent intervention from the Punjab and Haryana High Court has once again cast doubt on the continuity of the poll process.

(With Inputs From PTI)