Bhaichung Bhutia Shocked At "High Level" Of Political Interference In AIFF Elections

03.09.2022 - 16:15 sports.ndtv.com

Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia on Saturday said he was shocked at the "high level" of political interference in the All India Football Federation (AIFF) elections, which didn't pan out as he would have liked.

Bhutia lost to BJP leader and former goalkeeper Kalyan Chaubey in the election for the president's post. The 45-year-old Bhutia himself has dabbled in politics, having unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha and state assembly elections on TMC ticket in 2014 and 2016 respectively and founded the Hamro Sikkim Party in his home state.

But he said, the AIFF elections should have been fought without any "political interference", and purely on football matters. "I was shocked because I personally did not expect that the political interference (in AIFF elections) would be of such a high level.

I thought it's a football president election and I wanted to contribute with sincerity," Bhutia told PTI. "If they (his opponents) were so confident of victory, why a powerful union minister had to come at the hotel (where the voters were staying) at 9pm (on Thursday) and stay there till 2am in the morning of election day (on Friday) and take all of them to a particular floor of the hotel," he said.

Football Kalyan Chaubey India

Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia on Monday said he might explore legal options after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) turned down his request for a discussion on the appointment of Shaji Prabhakaran as secretary general during the executive committee meeting here. Prabhakaran, who was in the electoral college as a representative of Football Delhi, was made the AIFF secretary general a day after former India goalkeeper Kalyan Chaubey beat Bhutia 33-1 in the polls for the president's post on September 2.

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