Kathmandu, Oct 2: The International Cricket Council has welcomed the central elections of the Cricket Association of Nepal held on September 27-28 in Kathmandu.
The extraordinary elective general assembly of CAN — which was overseen by the ICC-formed Independent Panel in coordination with National Sports Council — elected 17-member executive committee under Chatur Bahadur Chand.
The Independent Panel included three representatives from ICC — Ammar Shaikh, Senior Manager (Strategic Projects), Muhammad Ali, Head of Internal Audit, and Niteesha Kothari, Finance and Operations Officer (Asia) along with NSC-nominated Lekh Bahadur Chhetri and elected committee representative Thakur Pratap Thapa.
“The elections were conducted more than three years after Nepal’s national cricket body was suspended in 2016 for breach of the ICC’s regulations which prohibit government interference and require free and fair elections,” said the ICC in a release. The ICC had formed Nepal Advisory Group to draft the statute which was unanimously approved by the elected committee.
“We are delighted with the momentous developments in Kathmandu, which is the culmination of the ICC-led governance reform process over the last three years and has resulted in a united cricket fraternity in Nepal,” said ICC Deputy Chairman Imran Khwaja in the release. “My congratulations go out to all Nepal cricket stakeholders including the fans, players, administrators, as well as the Nepal government and the National Sports Council on this historic milestone,” he added.
“With a newly-elected committee in place, I am optimistic that Nepal will replicate progress off-the-field too. A major prerequisite for the reinstatement of the ICC membership has now been achieved and we will consider the next steps during the ICC board meeting in Dubai later this month.”
