306 DDCA members cast votes on first day of polling

NEW DELHI: Exceeding expectations, 306 members of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) — including three senior citizens in wheelchairs — turned up to vote on the first day of the four-day polling on Thursday, despite toxic air and increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the city.

Elections for a total of six posts are being held. The post of the president has been filled with advocate Rohan Jaitley, son of late union minister Arun Jaitley, being unanimously elected by both major groups of the DDCA. The other posts up for grabs are of the treasurer and four directors.

"Everyone was expecting 200-odd members to turn up at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium today, considering the pollution and consistently rising Covid cases in the city. But we were surprised to see today's turnout. A total of 306 members came and voted, according to the official count done by the returning officer," one of the contestants told IANS.

There are 4,270 eligible DDCA members — many of these are dead but have still been included for inexplicable reason.

Of the 306 members who voted at the six booths erected at the Kotla, the maximum votes were cast at booth No.6 where 92 people voted while the least voted at booth No.2 where only 28 cast their votes.

"Three of the members came in wheelchair. One of them was Vishwanath Aggarwal, who is around 87 years old and is believed to be the oldest DDCA member alive. Initially, we were expecting that around 1,500 members would come physically to vote over the four days. But today's turnout has made us think that the eventual number could go up, assuming that a larger crowd would turn up at the weekend," he said.

There was tight police bandobast at the historical stadium for the polling. "I have never seen such heavy a large police presence for DDCA elections. There would have been approximately 100 constables present today. And there was proper barricading as well and proper ascertaining of identities of the members who came to vote," said a voter who has been a DDCA member for over 30 years. IANS

Also Read: Virat Kohli turns 32, former colleague Yuvraj Singh writes 'chakke chauke marte raho'

Also Watch: All Religion Prayer Meet in Jorhat for Tarun Gogoi