Chandigarh, July 30, 2011: Mr Jaspal Singh Kandhari was re-elected as the President of the Gymnastics Federation of India here today at a keenly contested election.

Mr Kandhari polled 31 votes in his favour and defeated his nearest rival, Mr Narinder Hooda of Haryana by 7 votes, in a house of 56 office-bearers of 28 state associations affiliated to the Gymnastics Federation of India. All the 28 states were represented at the election.
Mr Kaushik Bidiwala of Gujarat was elected as Secretary-General of the Federation, while Dr Shanti Kumar of Manipur was elected as the Treasurer. Mr Bidiwala defeated Mr Gyan Singh of Indian Railways and Dr Shanti Kumar defeated Mr P Prabhu of Tamil Nadu in a straight contest.
All the other office-bearers of the Gymnastics Federation of India, including 15 Vice Presidents and 7 Joint Secretaries, were elected unanimously. The House also unanimously elected five members of the Disciplinary Committee of the Federation.
Justice S N Dhingra, who retired as a Judge from the Delhi High Court in March this year, was the Presiding Officer for the election. He conducted the entire election proceeding and announced the results after validating the process.
Mr L S Ranawat, Executive Director of NIS , Patiala , was the Observer at the election on behalf of the Central Government. Mr Raja Sidhu represented the Indian Olympic Association as an Observer.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jaspal Singh Kandhari said that “for the first time in the history of the Gymnastics Federation of India, an election had been conducted peacefully, fairly and in a transparent way under the supervision of a retired High Court Judge.”
When asked about the direction the game of gymnastics was going to take, Mr Kandhari said he had an elaborate plan for the promotion of the sport in the country and he was looking forward to implementing it with the new team.
Earlier, Justice S N Dhingra disqualified Mr P V Rathi, ADGP (Intelligence), Haryana, as a candidate for the Presidentship of the Federation, citing All-India Service Rules which govern the conduct of IPS officers and which bar such participation without the permission of the Central Government.
Supporters of the wining panel of candidates, who had gathered at the venue, celebrated the announcement with sweets and slogans.
There was heavy security deployment at the venue of the election by Chandigarh Police to prevent any untoward incident.