AIFF polls: Bhaichung Bhutia, Kalyan Chaubey in the run up for prez post today

The stage is set for the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Elections. The election to choose the country's top football organization's presidential post is scheduled to take place today.

In the elections, Bhaichung Bhutia, one of the biggest legends in Indian football, will have a straight fight with former Mohun Bagan and East Bengal goalkeeper. 
 
The elections will be conducted for the post of the AIFF President, Vice-president, treasurer, and other 14 executive members. 

It will take place at the AIFF Headquarters in New Delhi. The results of the elections of the All India Football Federation could be announced either on September 2 or 3, according to the returning officer’s notice. 

The election, which was initially planned for December 2020, has been postponed for a number of reasons. 

The elections initially under the FIFA ban were supposed to take place on 28th August. However after the FIFA ban was lifted, the new date for the election was selected to be 2nd September.

The two former India Internationals will compete against one another for the top spot. Kalyan Chaubey, a former goalkeeper, will face Bhaichung Bhutia. Even though the odds are greatly in Chaubey's favour, Bhutia is determined to put up a valiant battle against the West Bengal-based BJP minister.

Bhutia, the former captain of India, was unable to win support for his national federation. Gopalakrishna Kosaraju of the Andhra Pradesh State association and Manvendra Singh of the Rajasthan association both backed Bhutia when Sikkim Federation declined to do so. The state associations of Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh, on the other hand, have backed BJP leader Kalyan Chaubey.

While Chaubey, also 45, is thought to be the front-runner for the top position with support from politically significant state associations like Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutia's candidacy has given the election more traction than it would have if he were not in the running. It should be noted that Chaubey is a BJP leader from West Bengal, and it would be safe to assume that he has some political clout—a must in these kinds of sports body elections—because of his affiliation with the party.

All the 14 candidates who had filed nomination papers for the same number of executive committee members are expected to be elected unopposed. They are G.P. Palguna, Avijit Paul, P. Anilkumar, Valanka Natasha Alemao, Maloji Raje Chhatrapati, Menla Ethenpa, Mohan Lal, Arif Ali, K. Neibou Sekhose, Lalnghinglova Hmar, Deepak Sharma, Vijay Bali, and Syed Imtiaz Husain.