Saikia and Bhatia set to become BCCI secretary and treasurer

Mumbai: Devajit Saikia and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia filed nominations for the posts of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary and treasurer respectively and are set to be elected unopposed in the Special General Meeting to be held in Mumbai on January 12.

Saikia, the board’s joint secretary, has been serving as the acting secretary after Jay Shah took over as International Cricket Council (ICC) Chair in December. His elevation will leave the jt secretary’s post vacant for which elections will subsequently be held. The overhaul among office-bearers is a forced one with Ashish Shelar too vacating the treasurer’s post after recently being inducted as a Maharashtra cabinet minister.

Saikia is advocate-general of Assam. A former first-class cricketer with four domestic caps for Assam, under him the Assam Cricket Association hosted IPL matches in Guwahati as well as warm-up matches of the 2023 ODI World Cup. The North-Eastern belt has gained prominence in the cricket board following the Justice RM Lodha reforms with new state units from the region getting voting rights.

Bhatia, who will be replacing Shelar, is into liquor business – he co-owns Simba beer. On the cricketing front, Bhatia belongs to the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh and has served as president of the body, which received BCCI’s full membership in 2016. Bhatia has also served in BCCI’s Apex Council.

1983 World Cup winner Roger Binny continues to be president and Rajiv Shukla vice-president. Those office-bearers who have not served for two consecutive three-year terms remain eligible to be re-elected in the board’s September AGM.

Given the zonal nature of functioning in the board, the absence of representatives from North Zone and West Zone is likely to be addressed in the coming months. From the time the court appointed Committee of Administrators left power in 2019 and BCCI returned to electoral process, office-bearers have been elected unopposed.

While Binny is the cricketing face among decision makers, Saikia, once elected, is expected to take a more prominent role in overseeing the transition phase of the Indian cricket team.