Kathmandu, December 14

The controversial elective General Assembly of Cricket Association of Nepal got underway after police intervened during the inaugural session here at the Raj Gharana Restaurant today.

A faction of CAN had called the fourth AGM for 11:00AM but the programme was postponed for 3:00PM after chief guest Youth and Sports Minister Satya Narayan Mandal did not turn up for the inauguration programme. Minister Mandal instead flew for Lukla with National Sports Council Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista. NSC has directed the CAN not to hold the AGM until further instructions.

The CAN officials were quick enough to arrange another chief guest, Sports Department Chief of Nepali Congress Dhanraj Gurung. At a time when CAN Vice-president Chatur Bahadur Chand was addressing the AGM, a group led by former vice-president Keshav Ghimire gheraoed the rostrum and started shouting slogans demanding the postponement of the elections.

President Tanka Angbuhang, vice-presidents Ghimire, Sunil Amatya, Ram Chandra Sharma, Deepak Koirala and Secretary Thakur Pahari were among the 11 officials from the executive committee who opposed the AGM saying the NSC and the International Cricket Council were not in favour of the elections. Vice President Amatya also read out the letter sent by the NSC. Most of them also did not attend the closed session.

After some scuffles among the representatives, police took control over the situation and the closed session was possible after security personnel allowed only the official representatives inside the hall. A total of 71 representatives out of 83 attended the opening session, while more than 60 were present in the closed session. “More than 65 per cent were present in the closed session and all the representatives wanted to hold elections at any cost,” said General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakurel.