BAM asked to amend administrative policy ahead of election

Commissioner of Sports Mohamed Tholal has directed the Badminton Association on Monday to amend its administrative policy ahead of election.

Tholal met with senior members of the Badminton Association yesterday and requested changes to the rules before the meeting regarding the election.

"We also agreed to seek help of the MoC [Olympic Committee] to obtain the international federation's opinion during yesterday's meeting," Tholal said.

This was Tholal's first meeting with the association regarding BAM's governance, but it marks the third time the association has been informed about it. Tholal previously requested that elections not be held until their concerns were addressed, but the letter was disregarded, and the elections were announced for March 22. Even after the elections were announced, Tholal ordered a halt to the election process.

The main change proposed is on BDC votes

BAM announced on Sunday that it would file complaints about the voters' list after it was revealed that badminton development centers (BDCs) in some atolls were allotted more than 100 votes each, regardless of the number of members they have.

To implement the governing rules, the most significant change that the Commissioner has pointed out is that they should be amended.These centers are not registered with the Sports Commissioner's office.

"In today's meeting, it was requested that each party should cast only one vote in the general body meeting, and if any entity other than individual members casts multiple votes, the entity should be registered with the Sports Commission," Tholal said regarding the recommended changes in the governing rules.

"It was also discussed that even after registration, only one vote could be cast by a single entity."

"We also discussed seeking legal opinion on the next course of action as the current EXCO period of BAM may expire if elections are not held before the current scheduled date," Tholal said. He added that in this regard, the meeting also discussed seeking the views of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) through the Olympic Committee.

BAM has requested the Sports Ministry and the Sports Commissioner to share their concerns in writing.