Federal Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) Ehsan Ur Rehman Mazari said on Sunday that Najam Sethi, the Interim Management Committee chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), only had the mandate to conduct elections for regional cricket associations.

In an interview on Dawn News programme ‘Doosra Rukh’, Mazari said: “Najam Sethi came to temporarily head the interim Management Committee and only had one mandate to conduct elections in the cricket regions.”

The IPC minister said that Sethi became a candidate for the PCB chairman “on his own”, adding that it amounted to a “conflict of interest” when he was given a different mandate.

Mazari said there would be no extension for Sethi’s tenure and Zaka Ashraf would be the next PCB chairman, adding that it was the wish of the PPP leadership.

The minister further said that he had requested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif regarding the same and also moved a summary to this effect.

Mazari said that since his ministry belonged to the PPP, therefore it was only right that the PCB chairman was someone chosen by the party. He added that there should be no complaints from the PML-N in this regard.

The minister went on to say that he had also asked Sethi for a performance and expenditure report of his tenure, revealing that he had received complaints from different quarters about irregularities in elections for the regional associations.

PCB chief race heats up

Mazari’s statement comes as the race to elect the PCB chairman has intensified.

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Ashraf has the PPP’s backing while Sethi is the candidate for PML-N and both coalition partners are making efforts to get their nominees approved by the PCB’s Patron-in-Chief, the prime minister.

The patron is the competent authority to appoint two members of Board of Governors of PCB and traditionally, the prime minister’s nominee has won the elections.

Sethi was appointed as head of the 14-member interim committee in December last year to run the affairs of the PCB till the elections are held within the next four months. However, the committee is yet to complete elections in several regions so far amid court cases with many club operators having alleged rigging in the process, resulting in the extension of the tenure of the committee till June 20.

A difference of opinion exists in the power corridors with PML-N seeking to secure a nomination from the prime minister, a move opposed by the PPP, which wants Ashraf to be the PCB chief.

Well-placed sources had told Dawn that the PPP leadership was of the view that since the Ministry for Inter-Provincial Coordination was given to it, and with the Pakistan Democratic Movement being a coalition government, it was their right to have their man as PCB chief.

“It is strange that the interim committee, which was mandated to hold free and fair elections, is yet to do so and now Sethi wants to become the new chairman,” a PPP stalwart had told Dawn on the condition of anonymity. “We will be resisting that move as Ashraf is our candidate.”

Mazari had previously confirmed that Ashraf had the PPP’s backing.

“The ministry has already moved his [Ashraf’s] summary to the PM office for approval,” he had told Dawn. “We have great regard for Sethi but we’re clear who our candidate is and I held a meeting with him today to discuss cricket issues in detail.”

Those supporting Sethi claim he should be elected PCB chief, noting that in his previous tenure, the 75-year-old had restored international cricket in the country and only recently he had been tactful in handling the issues surrounding Pakistan’s hosting of the Asia Cup.