SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Feb 2: Pradeep Verma is set to be re-elected as the president for a record 4th term while Manish Kumar will be the new general secretary of the All Jharkhand Chess Association (AJCA) for 2023-2025. The official result would be announced on February 5 at Ranchi.
Notably, Pradeep Verma and his team are all set to be elected unanimously as no other candidate is left in the race for any post.
The sources in the association said three candidates Ajay Kumar of Saraikela Kharsawa, Rohan Shandilya of East Singhbhum (Jamshedpur) had filed nomination for the post of joint secretary and Nishant Ketu of Koderma for an executive committee member.
However, all trio withdrew their nominations on the last day giving a clean sweep to Pradeep Verma.
Interestingly, the election has been conducted secretly at Sarala Birla University in Ranchi. Media was not informed about the poll and the names of candidates who filed nominations for which post.
Though AJCA had on a January 3 meeting appointed International Arbiter Jayant Bhuyan of Jamshedpur as election in-charge, when contacted on January 27, Bhuyan said that he has no list of candidates. AJCA coordinator Prabhat Ranjan of Dhanbad did not receive calls despite repeated attempts.
Sources in the association said in new committee general secretary Manish Kumar ( Ranchi), joint secretary Dipak Kumar ( Ranchi) and Anil Kumar Singh ( Chatra) are new faces.
Manish Kumar has been made general secretary in place of Neeraj Kumar Mishra who resigned on December 31. Though his 4th term in the association had already been completed.
In the state election, the representation of the Kolhan division was completely wiped out. Outgoing joint secretary Ajay Kumar of Saraikela withdrew the nomination while another joint secretary Basant Kumar Khandelwal of West Singhbhum district did not contest.
Jamshedpur, the hub of Jharkhand chess, has already been ignored by the state body since 2013. Jamshedpur’s Neeraj Mishra 2019 switched to Dhanbad in 2019 to become the general secretary of state.
“In the present scenario when an international player (general secretary Neeraj Mishra) is unceremoniously removed, I decided to keep himself out from the association,” said Khandelwal.
Rohan Shandilya said he withdrew the nomination under pressure but he has no complaint against any person.
However, the founders of Jharkhand chess in Jamshedpur said that 85% of chess players in the state belong to the Kolhan division. Keeping office–bearers from the region out of association would hit chess in the state.
“In fact, Jamshedpur has perished in an ego clash between Neeraj Mishra and Pradeep Verma,” said a former AJCA office bearer.
Former members of AJCA also questioned the selection of Manish Kumar as the general secretary who has no contribution to the association.
In the list of new committee is president- Pradeep Verma (Ranchi), executive president- Richa Sanchita – (Ranchi), Vice –president- Ajay Kumar Singh (Hazaribag), Umashankar Choubey (Dumka), Sunil Kherwar (Deoghar), Dhananjay Kumar (Ramgarh), General secretary Manish Kumar (Ranchi), Joint secretary Dipak Kumar (Ranchi), Binod Kumar Saw (Dhanbad), Anil KumarSingh (Chatra), Sujit Kumar Singh (Giridih), Treasurer-Satish Kumar (Ranchi), Coordinator – Prabhat Ranjan (Dhanbad).
