Nominations of Two Candidates for Post of AIFF President Cancelled after Complaints of Manipulation

With less than a week to go for the All India Football Federation elections, the nominations of two presidential candidates — Manvendra Singh and Valanka Natasha Alemao — have been rejected following complaints of manipulation in the seconding of names. Harjinder Singh, the authorised representative of Chandigarh Football Association, also informed the Returning Officer that he had not proposed or seconded the name of Manvendra Singh for the post of president. “Considering the fact that the aforesaid seconders for the said nominations are not legally valid, the nominations of Manvendra Singh and Valanka Natasha Alemao is not acceptable and accordingly their nominations for the post of president are rejected," said Returning Officer Umesh Sinha in a notification on Sunday. The nomination of Eugeneson Lyngdoh for the post of executive committee member has also been rejected as one Arif Ali had seconded the names of two candidates — Lyngdoh and Menla Ethenpa. The Returning Officer said in his notification on Sunday that, as per the draft constitution of the AIFF, “no person shall be eligible to nominate more than one candidate for the same post, either as proposer or seconder and, if he so does, his/her signature on the nomination papers delivered second in point of time to the Returning Officer shall be deemed to be inoperative".