30 September 2004	Thursday	14 Shaban 1425

KOLKATA, Sept 29: Ranbir Singh Mahendra was on Wednesday declared the new president of the Indian cricket board after a bitterly-contested election for the top post of the country's richest sports body.

Mahendra defeated political heavyweight Sharad Pawar 16-15 after outgoing president Jagmohan Dalmiya exercised his casting vote to break the tie. Karunakan Nair was re-elected as the secretary after the board's annual general meeting, which was twice postponed.

Pawar claimed that a representative from his home state of Maharashtra was not allowed to cast his vote and it proved decisive. "In this match the bowler and the umpire was the same man," said Pawar, agriculture minister in the ruling Congress government.

"The casting vote itself indicates what the plan was. The time has come to give a serious thought to the process of elections." Meanwhile, a court in the southern city of Madras restrained the board till Octr 11 from confirming the appointment of Dalmiya as patron-in-chief. -AFP