On 21st December, an overwhelming majority of state and UT wrestling associations elected Sanjay Singh as the New President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Sanjay Singh defeated former grappler Anita Sheoran in this court-monitored election for the sporting body by 40-7 votes.  

The ‘rebel’ wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik, who led the protests against former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, had supported Anita Sheoran. Unhappy with the results of the election, wrestler Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from the sport claiming that Sanjay Singh is a business partner and aide of Former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. 

A day later, Bajrang Punia announced that he was returning his Padma Shri award to Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was awarded to him in 2019.

Singh was asked to resign on 20th January after allegations of sexual harassment by wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Ravi Dahiya, Bajrang Punia, and his wife Sangita Phogat and Sakshi Malik and her husband Satyavart Kadian. His term was anyway ending, and he was not eligible to contest in the just concluded elections as he has already held the post for 3 terms, which is the maximum allowed.

Later in the day on 22nd December, Sakshi Malik said that govt should intervene to overrule the election, claiming that the govt has the power to do so. While talking to Rajdeep Sardesai on India Today, she said that the protesting wrestlers wanted a female WFI chief to take over from Brij Bhushan Singh. She claimed that the government had assured the protesting wrestlers earlier in the year that the sporting body would have a female President. 

In the interview with Rajdeep Sardesai who highlighted that elections were conducted fairly under monitoring, Malik argued that the government should have intervened in this election. The wrestler argued that the government should have mandated the sporting bodies to elect a Woman for the top post, seemingly hinting that the Union government should have “appointed” rebel wrestlers-backed female grappler Anita Sheron as the WFI President.

While she didn’t she said, she essentially meant that govt should override the WFI elections and sack Sanjay Singh, and appoint a woman as the new president.

#Exclusive| India Today speaks to Olympian Wrestler @SakshiMalik on her calling quits on Wrestling after Brij Bhushan Sharan’s close aide was elected WFI chief. Watch the full conversation. @sardesairajdeep #NewsToday pic.twitter.com/dgdYP16csg

— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) December 22, 2023

However, the announcements of Malik’s retirement or Punia’s return of the Padma award, as signs of protest and exerting pressure against the election outcome and claims that the government can intervene to ‘override’ the concluded elections are completely wrong. Sporting bodies run outside direct govt control, and any attempt to interfere in the election or its results will result in an immediate ban from the United World Wrestling, the global wrestling body, or in this case, the continuation of suspension as WFI is already suspended by UWW because of not holding elections on time.

The rules for sporting bodies and past precedences point out that any interference in running sporting bodies by governments or even courts, including the selection of officials or changes in the “constitution” of sporting bodies in violation of the Olympic Charter or other sporting global bodies as the case may be, irrespective of the intent, attracts immediate suspension of the sporting body in its entirety. Thus, if govt interferes in the WFI elections, it will cause more harm to the wrestlers.

Past precedences and a well-laid-down rule for all sporting bodies globally

Stressing the need for “political neutrality” in sporting bodies, the Olympic Charter states the following – 

Recognising that sport occurs within the framework of society, sports organisations within the Olympic Movement shall apply political neutrality. They have the rights and obligations of autonomy, which include freely establishing and controlling the rules of the sport, determining the structure and governance of their organisations, enjoying the right of elections free from any outside influence, and the responsibility for ensuring that principles of good governance be applied. 

Conspicuously, it is important to note that if a sporting body is suspended, it ceases to receive funding from the IOC, and its officials are prohibited from participating in Olympic meetings and events. Additionally, athletes of that country may be prevented from competing in Olympic events under their national flag, unless the IOC decides to allow them to participate under the Olympic flag.

There are numerous examples of national sporting bodies suspended by the global bodies for interference by governments. In many of these cases, governments and courts had stepped in to remove irregularities in the running of such bodies, but even those were considered undue interference.

Indian sporting bodies suspended over the years for “government interference”

In 2012, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended India’s national Olympic committee because of government interference in its election process. The IOC executive board imposed the sanction when the Indian Olympic Association failed to comply with the world body’s demands for holding independent elections.

Back then, the Indian sporting body had been embroiled in disputes over the elections to succeed Suresh Kalmadi, who had been imprisoned for nine months due to corruption charges related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Kalmadi, who had led the IOA for 16 years, opted not to seek re-election.

At the time, media reported that the IOC had repeatedly told the Indian body to adhere to its own constitution and the Olympic Charter and not follow the government’s sports code for that year’s elections for the sporting body. It warned that it would not recognise the results if the elections were held under government rules. Even though a clean-up was needed after the mess created by Kalmadi, IOC ruled that the govt could not do that.

Subsequently, in the same year, the Taekwondo Federation of India was suspended by the international body citing the Indian Olympic Association’s suspension from its parent body for not following the Olympic Charter. 

In August 2022, FIFA banned the All India Football Federation (AIFF) stating “undue interference by a third party.” This “third party” was a reference to the actions of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators. 

As per reports, the Court-appointed administration wanted 36 ’eminent’ footballers to be part of the Electoral College that would vote in the elections. This meant a 50-50 representation of players and state body assembly members. However, the roadmap and the inclusion of 50% players was construed by the Bureau of the FIFA Council (constituting the FIFA president and the six confederation presidents) as “undue interference by a third party” and promptly suspended AIFF. Even though there was good intention behind the administrator’s decision, given that politicians dominated AIFF for years, FIFA decided that it was undue interference by the court.

The ‘political neutrality’ rule transcends all sports and various countries penalised under this provision

In October 2015, the IOC suspended Kuwait for the second time in five years over government interference in the country’s Olympic movement. The IOC had said, “The Olympic Movement in Kuwait has faced a number of issues to preserve its autonomy, in particular due to recently amended sports legislation in Kuwait.” The ban lasted for more than two years.

Kuwait was also banned in 2010 over a similar dispute but was reinstated before the 2012 London Olympics. Prior to that, the IOC had also suspended the national Olympic bodies of India, Ghana, and Panama for political interference, though all were eventually reinstated, the Guardian reported back then.

Additionally, in 2015, FIFA alleged third-party interference in Indonesia’s local soccer association by the government. The ban was later lifted in 2016. 

In February 2022, FIFA suspended Zimbabwe and Kenya for “government interference.” FIFA suspended the two countries’ associations after their governments pushed aside the associations’ leaders. In July 2023, FIFA lifted the ban on Zimbabwe, 18 months after it had penalised it for “government interference” in its sporting body.  

In January 2023, FIFA banned the Lankan FA for violations of FIFA rules in administration for factional fighting and political interference in the sport’s body’s administration. The suspension was eventually lifted in August, this year. 

Apart from the Olympics and Football, in 2019, the International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended Zimbabwe over a failure to keep the sport free from government interference after the government commission “installed temporary leadership”.

Regarding its decision, ICC chairman Shashank Manohar had said, “We do not take the decision to suspend a member lightly, but we must keep our sport free from political interference.” 

Sri Lankan Cricket Board suspended by ICC

The most recent example of a sporting body suspended/banned for “government interference” is that of Sri Lanka Cricket. It was suspended by the ICC for ‘excessive government interference’ after the Sri Lankan team’s exit from the ongoing World Cup in India. On 10th November, ICC suspended SLC with immediate effect, after the board was sacked by the minister and then was reinstated by a court.

The Sri Lankan parliament had unanimously asked Sri Lanka Cricket’s elected board members to resign, accusing them of unprecedented corruption. The allegations of corruption against the board were made by the sports minister, and the parliament agreed with him. However, the board didn’t resign. 

Afterward, Sri Lanka’s sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the SLC board and installed an interim committee headed by Arjuna Ranatunga on 6th November. But a court of appeal stayed the minister’s order for 14 days on 7th November, reinstating the current board, after SLC president Shammi Silva filed an appeal against the minister’s sacking order. 

However, this was seen as excessive government interference in the sporting body by the ICC, and it suspended the Sri Lanka Cricket.

The way forward for protesting wrestlers in India

Strikingly, the election of a new president means that the suspension of WFI by the global wrestling body United World Wrestling will be lifted. UWW had suspended WFI for failing to hold elections before the August deadline, and the Indian wrestlers had been competing as neutral athletes at international events after that. WFI elections were originally scheduled for July, before the deadline, but it was deferred multiple times due to court cases.

As a result, Indian wrestlers lost the right to play under the Indian flag at the World Championships 2023 in September. 

The past precedence and a similar well-laid-out rule transcending across all sports globally underscore that the government can’t appoint the WFI President or any head of any sporting federation in the country, as claimed by protesting wrestlers. As highlighted above, any attempt of interference by the government results in the suspension of such a body by the parent global body, jeopardising the career of athletes and sports in the country.

If overwhelming majority of a sporting body elected a chief who is not capable or deserving in your eyes, you are left with very few choices. You can’t even go to court or ask the govt to interfere, because any interference even with good intentions, ends up hurting the athletes…

— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) December 23, 2023

The fact remains that Sanjay Singh won the election which was monitored by the court, and there are no allegations of any irregularities in the elections held in Delhi. The protesting wrestlers are not contesting the election, they are not alleging any malpractice, they are contesting only the result alleging that the winner is close to the former president. However, that is not a valid argument to remove the elected president.

The protesting wrestlers wanted Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh out, and wanted WFI elections. Now that the federation has a new president, they have to accept the election result. Sanjay Singh can’t sacked because they want him sacked, he got 40 out of 47 votes.

However, if the protesting wrestlers insist that they will not play under WFI led by Sanjay Singh, the only option they have is to form a rival body. The rebel wrestlers can form a parallel ‘wrestling’ body to WFI and apply to UWW for recognition challenging the authenticity and legality of WFI. The parallel body getting backing from Olympic medal winners could be given a chance by UWW to air and assuage their grievances.  

In fact, the protesters could have formed a rival body when Brij Bhushan was the president, or when WFI was suspended. However, international sports bodies recognise only one federation in a country.

Incidentally, they could seek the government’s assistance in getting the pre-requisite infrastructure for carrying out sporting activities rather than making a case for the government to intervene or override the election outcome, which is barred as per Charters of global international federations. However, it will be up to the govt to decide if wants to assist such a rival body.     

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the Union government is under no obligation to extend support to a rebel body, or even recognised bodies. The government extends support for the sporting federations to strengthen sporting bodies in order to promote sports. However, it is not bound to do so, and some sports are striving without much govt help. For example, BCCI owns several stadiums, but most other sporting bodies that lack adequate finance use government and public facilities.