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New Delhi: The Central Government has taken a big step towards making the election process in National Sports Federations more free and fair. The Sports Ministry has constituted a 20-member National Sports Selection Panel (NSEP). It includes two former Chief Election Commissioners of India along with former Election Commissioners and several former State Election Commissioners.

This panel will monitor the elections to be held in National Sports Federations and other national sports bodies. It has been formed under the provisions of the National Sports Administration Act, 2025.

Two former Chief Election Commissioners also in the panel

According to the gazette notification of the Sports Ministry, NSEP has been constituted under Section 16 of the National Sports Administration Act, 2025. Its objective is to monitor the conduct of free and fair elections of national sports bodies.

The panel includes former Chief Election Commissioner of India Achal Kumar Jyoti and Sunil Arora. Jyoti's tenure ended in 2018, while Sunil Arora served as the Chief Election Commissioner from 2018 to 2021.

Apart from this, former Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey is also included among the senior members of the panel.

Three former Deputy Election Commissioners are also members

Former Deputy Election Commissioners of India Sandeep Saxena, Sudhir Tripathi and Umesh Sinha have also been given place in NSEP. Apart from these, former Election Commissioners and Chief Electoral Officers of various states and union territories are also part of the panel.

NSEP will nominate one returning officer from among the officers included in the panel. This officer will monitor the elections for the executive committees and player commissions of the respective sports bodies.

Elections in many organizations including IOA and AIFF

Major sports bodies for which elections are proposed this year include the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF), among many other sports bodies.

In such a situation, the formation of NSEP is being considered important from the electoral process in sports organizations. Its objective is to ensure transparency and independent monitoring of elections.

National Sports Board has not been formed yet

Despite the formation of NSEP, an important link to sports administration has not yet been completed. The records of the panel are to be maintained by the National Sports Board, but the National Sports Board has not been formed yet. The last date of application for various posts in the board has been extended more than once.

Delay in formation of National Sports Tribunal also

The Sports Ministry has also extended the application deadline for posts in the National Sports Tribunal (NST) by one month. Now the last date for submission of applications will be 11th October.

This is the seventh time the application deadline has been extended. Due to this there is a delay in the formation of NST.

After the formation of NST, all sports disputes are expected to be heard in this tribunal. This can help in quickly resolving long-running legal disputes to sports administration, elections and selection processes.

Who is in the National Sports Election Panel?

• Achal Kumar Jyoti — Former Chief Election Commissioner of India
• Sunil Arora — Former Chief Election Commissioner of India
• Anup Chandra Pandey — Former Election Commissioner of India
• Alok Kumar — Former State Election Commissioner of Assam
• Chandrashekhar Bhatt — Former State Election Commissioner of Uttarakhand
• Dalip Singh — Former State Election Commissioner of Haryana
• Harish Chandra Joshi — Former State Election Commissioner of Uttarakhand
• Narendra Kumar — Former Election Commissioner of Union Territories
• R Parshuram — Former State Election Commissioner of Madhya Pradesh
• Rajeev Sharma — Former State Election Commissioner of Haryana
• SK Srivastava — Former State Election Commissioner of Delhi
• Sanjay Prasad — Former State Election Commissioner of Gujarat
• Urvinder Pal Singh Madan — Former State Election Commissioner of Maharashtra
• Varesh Sinha — Former State Election Commissioner of Gujarat
• Sandeep Saxena — Former Deputy Election Commissioner of India
• Sudhir Tripathi — Former Deputy Election Commissioner of India
• Umesh Sinha — Former Deputy Election Commissioner of India
• Ajay V Nayak — Former Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar
• Ranbir Singh — Former Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi
• Umang Narula — Former Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir