Mohan pips Asanga for VP slot in Sri Lanka Cricket

Wednesday, 17 April 2013 01:34 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Cricket’s first election by secret ballot concluded peacefully with Jayantha Dharmadasa and Nishantha Ranatunga being elected uncontested for the two most powerful posts of president and secretary respectively.

The majority of office-bearers elected for the main posts last year were retained, with the exception of Asanga Seneviratne, who lost his seat as vice-president to Mohan de Silva.

That was the only major upset in an otherwise straightforward contest. K Mathivanan retained his seat as one of the vice-presidents by polling the highest with 113 votes. Nuski Mohamed retained his seat as treasurer when he beat his opponent Eastman Narangoda by 32 votes (87-55).

The election was supervised by officials of the Elections Department at the request of SLC because this was the first time a secret ballot was being used to elect the office-bearers. Although all the key office-bearer posts barring the president and secretary were contested, the incumbent office-bearers managed to re-elect themselves for what would be, from this year, a two-year term instead of one, as was the case in the past.

Seneviratne, who was one of two vice-presidents elected last year lost his seat by 13 votes to de Silva, a former SLC president. Silva polled 81 to Seneviratne’s 68. Hirantha Perera and Ajitha Pasqual also retained their posts as assistant secretary and assistant treasurer respectively.

Perera polled 79 against his opponent Bandula Dissanayake, who managed 51 while 14 votes were rejected. A third contestant, Priyantha Soysa, withdrew.

Pasqual won by the thinnest of margins against Irwin Jayawardene (71-68) with five votes being rejected.

Outgoing president Upali Dharmadasa, brother of Jayantha Dharmadasa, will automatically serve in the next Executive Committee as the immediate past president, making it the first instance of two brothers serving in an SLC committee.

There were contests for the tournament, umpires and tour organising committees while the sponsorship committee went uncontested for lack of candidates.

The elections were conducted amid tight security at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo. It commenced at 10.30am and lasted a marathon eight hours.