Sexual harassment accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and his son, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) vice president Karan Bhushan Singh, will not be part of the WFI’s new executive body to be elected next month. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan and his son have been excluded from the voter list for the federation polls to be held on August 12. Last month in their meeting with sports minister Anurag Thakur, the protesting wrestlers, led by Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, had demanded that no one from Brij Bhushan’s family should be allowed to contest the polls.

They were also promised a say in deciding who occupies the key posts of president, general secretary and treasurer. However, out of Brij Bhushan’s three family members who were part of the WFI before it was dissolved by the government in April, his son-in-law, Vishal Singh, still features in the electoral college. The other son-in-law, Aditya Pratap Singh, a former joint secretary, is also missing from the list, which was finalised on Tuesday. 

According to reports, the electoral college has a total of 50 members from 25 state units. The deadline to nominate candidates for various posts, including the president, is August 1. Scrutiny of nominations will be conducted the following day and the final list of candidates will be released on August 7. If needed, voting will be conducted on August 12.

Earlier in May, at the height of the protest demanding action against Brij Bhushan, when the protesting wrestlers were manhandled and detained by the Delhi police, international wrestling body United World Wrestling (UWW), which oversees wrestling at the Olympics, threatened to suspend WFI if the election process is not completed within deadline, which would mean that Indian wrestlers would have to compete at the Olympics under a neutral flag.