Ex-cricketers still waiting to cast vote in Baroda Cricket Association elections

VADODARA: Hundreds of Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) members will cast their votes on Friday to elect office-bearers for the association. However, several ex-cricketers, who have represented Baroda in international as well as Ranji cricket for years, won’t be able to vote. For, the BCA management hasn’t made them members of the association yet. The opposition group too has made it an issue in their campaign and are promising to add new members if elected to power.
Ex-cricketers like Nayan Mongia and Atul Bedade, who retired years ago, are still waiting to get membership from BCA. “BCA management had promised to make me member soon after my inclusion in BCA three years ago. But I am still waiting for it. There has been no word from the management. In fact, I think all ex-cricketers should be made members of the association,” Mongia said.
Apart from Mongia and Bedade, recently retired Ranji cricketers like Jacob Martin, Connor Williams and Satyajit Parab, too, have not been offered membership. When asked, BCA vice-president Sanjay Patel said, “The new committee will take the decision on the matter after the elections.”
In the last elections, the opposition had raised the issue of membership to ex-cricketers and tried to make it cricketers versus non-cricketers issue. “We will add new members to the association and cricketers will obviously be given preference. ,” said Sheetal Mehta of the opposition group. Several senior ex-cricketers like Anshuman Gaekwad, Kiran More, Narayan Satham, Cecil Williams and many others were made members of BCA years ago. Though, the management hasn’t inducted some cricketers as members, they have hired them and are paying them salaries for their services to the association.