Paving the way for holding elections in Mohun Bagan club after a 14-year gap, the Calcutta high court set up a three-member special committee and directed it to hold elections by July 31.

The division bench of the high court appointed senior advocates S P Roychowdhury, Jayanta Mitra and government pleader Rabilal Moitra in the panel and asked it to complete the election process by July 31.

The bench, comprising Justice Pabir Kumar Samanta and Justice Maharaj Sinha, also directed that the elections be held through casting ballot and made it mandatory for voters to carry photo identity cards.

The existing executive committee would have to hand over charge to the new committee within seven days after the elections, the court said.

All expenses of the special committee would be borne by the three-member panel appointed earlier to run the soccer affairs of the club.

The court order came following a petition moved by Bagan president Swapan Sadhan Bose whose counsel, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, argued that efforts to hold the elections in the club were being repeatedly scuttled by rivals.

On the other hand, the counsel for present assistant general secretary Balaram Chowdhury, who heads the rival group, held that the existing executive committee had not given proper accounts of funds and prayed for appointment of a special committee by the court to hold the elections.

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