Mumbai, Oct 3: Former president Shashank Manohar has emerged as the sole candidate to be elected to the top post of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has fallen vacant with the demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya, in the Special General Meeting (SGM) to be held here on Sunday.

The chair has been lying vacant since Dalmiya died in Kolkata on September 20. As per BCCI's constitution, a notification for a SGM to nominate a successor has to be issued within 15 days of the incumbent's death.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said Manohar is the only candidate for the top post.

A SGM will be held here on Sunday where a decision regarding the vacant chair will be taken. Manohar, a lawyer by profession, earlier held the post from 2008 to 2011.

"Shashank Manohar is the only candidate for the BCCI president's post. A decision regarding it will be taken in BCCI's SGM in Mumbai on October 4," Thakur had said on the sidelines of the T20 practice match between India A and the visiting South African team in New Delhi on September 29.

Manohar emerged as a consensus candidate among East Zone units whose turn it is to nominate a president till 2017. Any candidate for the BCCI top job will need a proposer from the eastern region.

It was earlier believed the Tripura Cricket Association or National Cricket Club will propose Manohar's candidature. But it is now believed former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, who succeeded Dalmiya as the new Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, is likely to propose Manohar's name for the post.

But Ganguly dodged all questions in a recent event when he was asked if he would support and recommend Manohar's name for the top post.

Manohar is known to be close to former BCCI and International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Sharad Pawar. The senior lawyer has Pawar's backing and after Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Rajiv Shukla opted out of the race, he is likely to be supported by Anurag Thakur as well.

Jharkhand Cricket Association (JCA) chief Amitabh Choudhary had emerged as a possible candidate earlier, but his chances slimmed considerably as the Sharad Pawar and Anurag Thakur factions wanted their man at the top.

Manohar is unlikely to face any rival since the faction led by ex-BCCI chief N. Srinivasan doesn't have the majority among 29 votes to counter the former's candidature.

Srinivasan is ineligible to attend the meeting on Sunday but he can cast his vote at the SGM in the scenario of an election.

IANS