Himanta Biswa Sarma elected BAI President

New Delhi  :   Assam Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was on Tuesday unanimously elected the Badminton Association of India (BAI) President during its annual general body meeting in Goa.

Ajay Kumar Singhania was elected the Secretary General while former Tamil Nadu Badminton Association president and former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss was elected treasurer. Both were elected unanimously.

Sarma had taken over as the interim BAI President last year after the demise of Akhilesh Das Gupta. He will serve for four years.

Congratulating all the office-bearers, Sarma vowed to take India to the pinnacle of world badminton. 

"I would like to congratulate all the elected members and I am sure that everyone will fulfil their responsibilities to the best of their capacity. Indian badminton has been on an all-time high and we as a federation will strive to take it forward and make Indian badminton to the top of the pedestal," Sarma said.

"I would also like to bring it to everyone's notice that I along with the entire office-bearers will be working in complete transparent manner and will work to make the BAI, the most professional National Sports Federation (NSF) in the country," he added.

Aftab Hussain Saikia, the chairman of the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission, was the returning officer and the electoral process was conducted under his watchful eyes.

A total of 61 votes were cast by the 31 member affiliates with each state casting two votes except for Telengana which is on a provisional affiliation. 

Pondicherry Badminton Association was barred from voting as they currently stand as a defunct body.

A total of 42 posts were up for grabs including the position of President, Senior Vice-President, 12 Vice Presidents, three Secretaries, eight Joint Secretaries and 16 Executive Committee members. 

All the executive committee members were also elected unanimously.