THIRUVANANATHAPURAM:
The process of Election to the Kerala State Sports Council and District Sports Councils has been set in motion and will be completed before mid-February next year.
Formal notification under rule 82 of the Kerala Sports Rules, 2008 will be issued on December 26. This election is being held after a gap of ten years and in accordance with the new amendments made to the Kerala Sports Act 2000 (Act 2 of 2001), replacing Ordinance No 42 of 2018.
According to the programme for transaction of the business, the elections will be completed in such a way that the reconstituted district sports councils would be put in place on January 11,2019, and the reconstituted State Sports Council by mid-February, said Sanjayan Kumar, Director of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of Kerala.
“We are planning to have the reconstituted State Sports Council to be in place before mid-February. The schedule for district sports council elections has been so structured as to meet this deadline. It is significant that elections are being held after a gap of ten years”, said Sanjayan Kumar, who is also the Returning Officer for the conduct of elections.
Election of district sports council president, vice-president and district sports council nominee to the State Sports Council will be held on January 16, from 10 am to 12 pm and the election for the Executive Committee members shall be held at 10 am on 21st January 2019.
As per the provisions of the Kerala Sports Act, the district sports council will have not less than three members elected by the Village Panchayat Presidents from among themselves within the district with less than 50 village panchayats, one person elected by the block panchayat presidents from among themselves and one person elected by chairpersons of Municipal Councils. However, in the case of districts with more than 50 village panchayats, their presidents will elect five members to the respective district sports councils, of whom one shall be a woman and one shall be from SC or ST community.
The filing of nominations for district sports councils opens on December 26 with the last date as December 29. The scrutiny will take place on December 31. The deadline for withdrawal of nominations has been fixed on January 3, 2 pm.
The final list of contestants will be published on January 3, 5 pm, and the ballot papers for respective local bodies will be despatched on January 4. The elector who desires to vote in the election can do so till 2 pm on January 11, and the counting will take place after 2 pm on the same day.
The Assistant Registrar of Co-operatives will be the Returning Officer for the elections for DSCs.
The voters list was published on December 14. The last date for filing objections to the voters’ list was December 21 and it was put on the notice board in the returning officer’s office and the respective District Sports Councils and the office of ROs. The final voters’ list will be published on December 24.
Also, each district sports organization affiliated as a unit of the respective state sports organisation will elect one representative to the district council.
Apart from the elected members, the district sports councils will comprise 11 Ex-officio members including the District Panchayat President, Corporation Mayor or municipal chairperson of the district headquarters , the District Collector and the District Superintendent of police. The councils will also have Government nominated members, including one-third members of the Legislative Assembly representing the Assembly Constituencies in the district.
The President and Vice President of district sports councils, constituted every five years, will be elected by the council members. The district sports council will also have an executive committee, comprising president, vice president, secretary and a member to be elected to the State Sports Council.
District Sports Councils will be co-ordinating the activities of corporation, municipal and village sports councils as well as the registered sports organizations in the respective district. They will also organise sporting events, competitions and tournaments and perform other functions delegated by the State Sports Council.
