Two fall, three under scanner after scrutiny day I

Kolkata, July 26 (UNI) Two nominations have been rejected and three put under further scanner on the first day of the scrutiny of nomination papers for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) poll slated for July 30.

This year's CAB election will witness an acrimonious battle between incumbent CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya and his challenger city Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee.

However, after the first day's scrutiny Dalmiya seems to go 5-0 up as all the nominations that have come under question are supposedly pledged to the rival faction.

The papers were scrutined by court appointed neutral observer and former high court judge S K Fouzdar in presence of the two leaders from the two factions and a battery of lawyers waiting outside to lend their expertise in case of a dispute.

The marathon five-hour scrutiny began at 1200 noon with several representatives, including the likes of Snehashis Ganguly and Raja Venkat, shuffling in and out in a huff.

However, it has been learnt at the end of the scrutiny that Bata and Rangers clubs' nominations were cancelled. While the former was cancelled due to faulty representation, the latter was rejected for incomplete papers.

The 3 other nominations that were put under scanner belonged to Ballygunje Sporting club, Victoria club and Narkeldanga Sir Gurudas sporting club. Representatives of all these clubs have been summoned tomorrow at 1300 hrs for further scrutiny.

While, Ballygunje Sporting club's nomination was challenged by a legal notice sent by club president Alok Ganguly as the representation was sent without his authorisation, Narkeldanga Sir Gurudas sporting club's Anu Dutta's nomination was challenged as it did not have the generaql secretary's endorsement.

Incidentally, Ballygunje is being represented by the rival group's joint secretary candidate Raja Venkat. The third club that has been summoned tomorrow is Victoria Sporting. It had apparently filed two nominations forms--one from Ranjit Gupta and another from Samir Dasgupta.

So it seems that Dalmiya is ahead after the first round of the battle though the war is still on.

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