Mumbai’s voting power in BCCI stripped off

There was an eerie silence in Mumbai’s cricketing circles since Saturday when the Supreme Court (SC)-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) put up the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) new constitution on its official website.

The new constitution saw the giant in the Indian cricket circuit, Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), losing its status as a permanent voting member of the BCCI, with the Maharashtra Cricket Association being made a full member.

The SC-appointed Lodha panel had recommended a one-state-one-vote policy. Consequently, Ranji teams like Saurashtra, Vadodara (both Gujarat), Vidarbha and Hyderabad also lost their voting status and are now associate members of the BCCI. All these bodies will now take turns annually to vote.

The silver lining is that MCA representatives will still be permitted to attend BCCI’s general body meetings, but with no voting powers.