New Delhi:  The process of Scrutiny of Nominations for the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) scheduled to be held here on Saturday has been postponed by the Returning Officer as the Chairman of the three –member election commission   S.Y.Quraishi has resigned.

Returning   Officer Chief Justice V.K.Bali (Retd) has informed that Scrutiny process will only start after the appointment of the new Chairman/Member of the election commission.

This has created a very piquant situation as it is going to have an impact on the schedule of the elections which are slated for 25th November.

Dr. Quraishi in his resignation letter has said that he is quitting the Commission because there is a breakdown of consensus. He wants that IOA elections be held under Sports Code of the Government of India.

IOA from the very beginning has opposed the Sports Code of the Government of India but had to include the provision of Sports Code in the IOA election because of the directive of the High Court of Delhi.

However the matter has got complicated with International Olympic Committee (IOC) stepping in and asserting that any election under the Sports Code of the Government of India will not be acceptable to them as it will violate the IOC charter.

“I have replied to the IOC communiqué   last night in  which I made it clear, IOA’s opposition to the Sports Code but stated that because of the High Court of Delhi directives this provision was included “ IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra  said in a statement here this evening.

Prof. Malhotra said he will have consultation with other senior members of the IOA and will name the Chairman/ member of the Election commission at the earliest.

He said at   all three- the Sports Code of the Government of India, High Court of Delhi directive and IOC communiqué – are at variance and has led to lot of different interpretations.

“We will have to go into the whole issue in detail and take a decision on this very important issue” Prof Malhotra added.