BCCI all set to enforce 'one state, one vote' policy in upcoming SGM

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) met on Saturday ahead of their meeting with the state associations of the BCCI. The Special General Meeting (SGM) which will be held on Monday in Mumbai, will be an occasion for the BCCI to roll out a set of important policies for Indian cricket.

The agenda of Monday’s SGM is to discuss the feasibility of implementing some recommendations made by the Justice RM Lodha Committee. First, the board will take up the issue of ‘one state, one vote’ which will affect several state associations. Furthermore, the BCCI will also look at the suggestion of having a three-member selection committee as opposed to having a committee that has five members.

However, the cricket fraternity, in general, reckons that given the vast Indian domestic circuit, a three-member selection panel doesn’t work. Among other matters that are slated to be discussed, the SGM will hold discussions on deliberations between the BCCI and World Sports Group. The board will meet to finalise its settlement with Kochi Tuskers, the former IPL team as well. Officials will take up the issue of the National Cricket Academy, and devise a plan to run it more efficiently.

Propositions for devising fresh player-staff remunerations will also be tabled at the SGM. A senior BCCI official is already working on this matter right now in an efforts to reduce the conflict of interest in Indian cricket. State associations such as Maharashtra, Mumbai, Vidarbha, Baroda, Saurashtra and Gujarat will be directly affected by the one-state, one-vote rule.

BCCI to look at IPL bids in SGM

Meanwhile, the SGM will also look at the BCCI’s options for bidders of the IPL. Chinese mobile manufacturing companies Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi are the front-runners for the bids. There’s also Delhi-based electronic and white goods manufacturing company Intex which has picked up the bid documents for the IPL title rights. The deadline to pick the bid document ended on Thursday and on June 27, the bids will be opened at the BCCI office in Mumbai.

Currently, Vivo is the title rights holders of the IPL while Oppo own the Indian cricket team jersey rights. Vivo had taken over the IPL title rights from PepsiCo for the same value of Rs 396 crore after the beverage-making company had opted out of its contract in 2014.

Intex has been looking at ways to return to the IPL after finishing their two-year franchise term with the Gujarat Lions. According to market sources, “given the manner in which the jersey rights went for a whopping thousand crore plus recently, it won’t be a surprise if the title rights touch the same high.”