October 23 is General Body meeting, Sourav Ganguly will call BCCI AGM, says Vinod Rai

Vinod Rai has announced that the general body meeting will be held at the BCCI Headquarters in Mumbai and the Annual General Meeting will be called for by the new President Sourav Ganguly. Rai cleared it when he spoke to IANS that this was a GBM and not an AGM.

"It is a General Body meeting because the General Body elects the office-bearers. It is a General Body meeting being convened by the CoA to conduct the elections. The CoA has never convened an Annual General Meeting or a Special General Meeting. The CoA's mandate was to run the administration of the BCCI and help in the implementation of the Lodha reforms. The General Body comprises all the nominees of the different states," Rai said.

Rai further informed that Sourav Ganguly and his team will have the responsibility to call for the AGM and it will be done with a 21-day notice period as mentioned in BCCI's constitution.

"Of course they will call for an AGM. Look at the agenda of this meeting, only two items. Obviously they will have to call for an AGM because they have a lot of appointments to be done, committees to be formed. It is the prerogative of the President (Ganguly) and the Secretary (Jay Shah) to do that. They will need a 21-day notice and he couldn't have done that earlier because he will officially be the President only after he is declared elected by the Electoral Officer on Wednesday," he added.

Rai also commented on Ganguly's appointment as the head of BCCI. He feels that having captained the Indian team and having known the way administration, Sourav Ganguly will do a fantastic job and bring the necessary reforms as a BCCI President.

"I am exceedingly happy that a former cricketer of the stature of Ganguly, who has been one of our most successful captains has been nominated for election as President because nobody better than him understands cricket and cricket administration because he has been at CAB for so many years. There could have been no other better person to take over is my feeling," he said.

Rai is particularly happy by seeing the members of the BCCI's Apex Council and IPL Governing Council as former players as they will provide valuable guidance in Administration having served the country for so many years.

"Four former players are going to be in the apex body and we are on a very happy road. You will also have former cricketers in the Cricket Advisory Committee," he concluded.