Days after FIFA Under-17 World Cup, Delhi HC removes Praful Patel as the AIFF president

New Delhi, October 31: The Delhi high court on Tuesday (October 31) set aside the election of Praful Patel as the president of the All India Football Federation. This comes barely three days after the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, the first-ever global football event to be staged in the country, concluded in Kolkata.

The court set aside the elections saying they were held without following the National Sports Code. It also directed that fresh elections be conducted within a period of five months.

Patel, who was re-elected the AIFF president for a four-year term last year, was serving his third successive tenure.

Delhi HC has also directed for fresh elections for AIFF within 5 months, also says previous AIFF election didn't follow National Sports Code

— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2017

A bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Najmi Waziri also appointed former chief election commissioner (CEC) S Y Quraishi as an administrator to look into the functioning of the AIFF.

The court's order came on a plea by advocate Rahul Mehra contending that the elections of the federation were held contrary to the National Sports Code.

Patel, a former civil aviation minister, was elected for the post in December last year along with the Executive Committee for the term 2017-2020 after the high court had vacated a stay on elections.