Praful Patel re-elected AIFF president

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) Praful Patel was unanimously re-elected president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) at its Annual General Body meeting here Thursday.

Patel, a union minister, said the AIFF followed its constitution and the spirit of the government's sports code while conducting the elections.

"We haven't violated any rules. We have gone by the AIFF constitution and the spirit of the sports code," Patel told reporters at the Football House.

All the members were elected unopposed in the AGM. Goa-based industrialist Srinivas Dempo (west), K.M.I. Mather (south), Subhash Chopra (north) and Larsing Sawyan (north-east) are the new vice-presidents while Subrata Dutta will be enjoying his third term as vice-president.

The elections were held in the presence of observers from the government, world body FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials Radhica Sreeman and P.C. Makholia were present on behalf of the government while Mun Si Song represented AFC.

FIFA was represented by Shaji Prabhakaran, a regional developmental officer, south and central asia and consultant Monika Staab.

S.K. Agarwal, a retired judge of Delhi High Court, was the returning officer.

"The elections have been held in consonance with the Sports Code guidelines and the AIFF Constitution at the same time. All nominated persons for the post of Office-bearers and Executive Committee members were elected unanimously," said Agarwal.

List of elected members:

Praful Patel (Re-elected as President)

Shrinivas V. Dempo (Vice-President, West)

K.M.I. Mather (Vice-President, South)

Subrata Dutta (Vice-President, East)

Subhash Chopra (Vice-President, North)

Larsing Sawyan (Vice-President, North-East)

Hardev Jadeja (Re-elected as Treasurer)

Amit Ranjan Dev (Re-elected as Executive Committee Member, West)

Franco Miranda (Executive Committee Member, West)

A.R. Khaleel (Executive Committee Member, South)

Menla Ethenpa (Executive Committee Member, East)

Ghulam Rabbani (Executive Committee Member, East)

Sunil Bharadwaj (Re-elected as Executive Committee Member, North)

Shamsuddin (Executive Committee Member, North)

Ankur Datta (Executive Committee Member, North-East)

Ranjit Roy (Re-elected as Executive Committee Member, North-East)