Patel to remain WIFA chief, Vora Vice-President

WIFA AGM, election in city on Aug 23 n  Iqbal Kashmiri to be new executive committee member of State body

n By Paritosh Pramanik

PRESIDENT of All India Football Federation (AIFF) Praful Patel will remain the chief of Western India Football Association (WIFA) for another term of four years when the new body is declared on August 23 at Nagpur.
Nagpur District Football Association (NDFA) President Haresh Vora will continue to be one of the five vice-presidents of the State body whereas Souter Vaz of Mumbai will continue as secretary. This will be Vora’s second successive term. 
According to sources, the Annual General Meeting and elections of WIFA are slated to be held in Nagpur.
The election process has already begun. The last date of nomination was August 12 while the last date for withdrawal is August 14.
“The body will be elected unanimously barring election for only one post of the executive committee member,” said one of the sources privy to the development.
With no opposition for most of the top posts, all the ‘stalwarts’ will continue to hold their seats.
There are two new faces in the vice-presidents posts with JSW Managing Director Parth Jindal and Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thakeray’s son Aditya Thakeray, walking into the governing body.
Jindal is President of Palghar District Football Association while Thakeray is President of Mumbai District Football Association.
“Iqbal Kashmiri, Secretary of Nagpur District Football Association, will be making his maiden entry into State body as an executive committee member,” informed the source.
Praful Patel was elected as the Asian Football Confederation’s vice-president (SAFF region) during the AFC Congress held in Bahrain in 2015.
Patel became member of FIFA Finance Committee for a term of four years in 2017.
According to source, Dhule representative Raees Qazi decided to contest for a post of executive committee member. But his chances of winning looks bleak with too little support from other members.
“Till now 14 nomination forms have been submitted for 13 posts of executive committee. If there is no withdrawal on August 14, election will be held in this category only,” informed the source.

There are very few changes from the previous body and most of the members have retained their posts. NDFA vice-president and Nagpur MLA Sameer Meghe, who was WIFA vice-president, has decided to step down as he was unable to devote time to WIFA. The association has put faith in three incumbent assistant secretaries and decided to continue with them for another term of four years. Sushil Surve (Amravati), Salim Parkote (Latur) and Kiran Chougule (Solapur) will be the three assistant secretaries. Similarly, Pyarelal Choudhary of Pune will retain the post of treasurer.
THE NEW WIFA BODY

President: Praful Patel (Gondia)
Vice-Presidents: Haresh Vora (Nagpur), Vishwajeet Kadam (Pune), Maloji Raje (Kolhapur), Parth Jindal (Palghar), Aditya Thakarey (Mumbai).
Secretary: Souter Vaz (Mumbai)
Treasurer: Pyarelal Choudhary (Pune)
Assistant Secretaries: Sushil Surve (Amravati), Salim Parkote (Latur), Kiran 
Chougule (Solapur)
Likely Executive Committee: Ahmed Lalani (Bhandara), Ravindra Darekar (Gadchiroli), Deepak Dixit (Chandrapur), Iqbal Kashmiri (Nagpur), Abdul Rauf (Amravati), PV Ahale (Yavatmal), Yogesh Pardeshi (Nandurbar), Sajid Ansari (Nanded), Asghar Patel (Hingoli), Manik Mandlik (Kolhapur), Godwin Dick (Ahmednagar), Suleman Jaggu (Sangli), Anand Kalorkar (Wardha). 
(Election will be held for 13 posts of Executive Committee if there is no withdrawal by August 14)