Published: February 11, 2026 at 1:11 pm
Ten months ago, the election to the Telangana Basketball Association (TBA) was held but the controversy regarding the poll has not died down. Two writ petitions filed by contestants Mohd Nayeemuddin and G Eugene George are pending in the Telangana High Court over the issue. The main contention of the writs is that secretary A Prudhvishwar Reddy was not ‘eligible’ to contest the polls and, therefore, his election should be set aside.
“The elections were conducted on the direction of the High Court, and the Returning Officer (RO) Justice (retd) P Naveen Rao consulted the Telangana Olympic Association and the Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS) officials before conducting the elections. According to me, it was a free and fair election. But one person who lost the election has gone to court. No one can be stopped from going to the court. Let’s see what happens,” TBA president Sridhar Reddy said.
“Also, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) officials were present, and they didn’t have an issue with the elections, he added.
However, former secretary Norman Isaac says: “I had written to the RO twice regarding the discrepancies in the electoral roll. Initially, he was kind enough to defer the elections so that he could go through the objections raised. He did meet SATS VC and MD regarding the matter. Unfortunately, the SATS officials did not give the proper information to him and he went ahead with the elections saying the objections had no merit.”
https://khelkhiladis.com/tba-taking-unilateral-decisions-says-norman-isaac/
“On the orders passed by the High Court of Telangana in WP 9974 of 2015, the then SATS had sent a communication to TBA that whenever elections are held to the body it should comply with the National Sports Development Code 2011. In spite of this the SATG misguided the RO,” Norman stated.
“The RO did not think it fit to meet the other parties involved in the case, as per orders passed in WP 969 of 2025 wherein TOA and BFI were named as respondents and were to record all proceedings of the pre-election to the TBA, and to ascertain the merits of the objections. He, unilaterally, went ahead with the elections,” Norman said.
“I had said before the elections that if things are not proper let us postpone the elections but all of them wanted the polls to be held. Now after losing the elections, they are making a hue and cry. I don’t know about the district election, but the TBA election was done in a proper order and according to the laid down rules,” Sridhar said.
WDBA affiliation was terminated: Norman
It is alleged that A Prudhvishwar Reddy had created a ‘fake address’ so that he could contest as president of the Warangal District Basketball Association (WDBA). The elections were held on November 4, 2024. Norman said there were several other discrepancies connected with that election. To start with, the affiliation of the Warangal association was terminated for not having paid the affiliation fee and for not participating in the inter-district championships since 2020.
On October 21, 2024, the secretary of the WDBA had requested TBA to depute an observer for the elections. TBA president Rajender Reddy had asked Norman to depute an observer, to which the latter raised objections saying the election would be illegal as it was not per norms. Reddy said that the matter could be challenged in the court and insisted that an observer should be deputed.
After the elections, the observer Mohd Nayeemuddin submitted his report to Norman on November 7 and the next day Reddy issued an affiliation letter to WDBA which was a violation of norms as the letter should have been issued by the secretary and not president. “All correspondence to and from the TBA as per the Constitution will be by the secretary,” Norman said.
On February 20, 2025, the Warangal District Olympic Association president ‘invalidated’ the general body meeting and election of the WDBA, in a letter dated February 20, 20205, due to ‘impersonation’ by the observer of the WDOA. The observer who attended the meeting was K Srinivas, who had signed on the Minutes of the Meeting and proceedings of the RO WBDA whereas in the Roll Call it is shown as Kailasam Yadav having attended the meeting.
Also, O Jyothi, who was from the District Sports Authority Mahabubabad, and did not have jurisdictional authority to do so had attended as Observer but signed as having represented DYSO Warangal.
On February 20, Norman had written to the collector and district magistrate Warangal that the elections and the general body meeting of the WDBA was invalidated. He had also provided documentary evidence of the same.
On March 1, 2025, Norman had written a letter to the RO, among others, about the irregularities/flaws in the names of representatives sent by the district basketball associations. After the RO issued the election schedule, Norman had again written to the RO on March 9 about the matter.
Sridhar, Nayeem and Eugene had lodged complaints
On March 17, R Sridhar Reddy, Mohd Nayeemuddin and G Eugene George and also members of the erstwhile WDBA had lodged complaints with the RO about the flaws in the electoral college and that some members were not eligible to contest. “I had raised an objection about the guy who proposed Prudhvi’s name,” Sridhar said.
But the handwritten letter of Sridhar says, “As such the proposal made by Sri Mullanga Prathap Reddy in favour of Sri Prudhvishwar Reddy A for the post of president of WDBA held on 4.11.2024 becomes invalid and his election as president of WDBA is not to be considered and automatically stands ‘ineligible’ to be a candidate in the Electoral College representing WDBA.”
The observers of the Telangana Olympic Association and the Basketball Federation of India, who were present at the briefing session prior to the election process, had mentioned to the RO regarding anomalies in the electoral college as ‘a candidate for a particular post had also been a proposer/seconder for a candidate for the same post’.
But all the objections were brushed aside, and elections were conducted by the RO. Subsequently the writ petitions were filed, and the cases are pending in the court.
In his counter-affidavit in the court, Prudhvishwar had stated that the WDBA election was not challenged in any court and the RO had no objection to his candidature. Hence, the writ petition had no merit and should be dismissed.
Time for all to get together and work for TBA: Sridhar
“Once the elections are done, everyone should get together and work for the association. This kind of mudslinging is only hurting the association and the game of basketball. Norman wanted a puppet to be elected as secretary, but when that did not happen, he asked Nayeemuddin and Eugene to file a case. What will happen? The case will go on and by that time the term of his body maybe over too,” Sridhar said.
“How long will Norman and others be holding on to positions? Isn’t it time to let fresh blood take over? Prudhvi has new ideas and isn’t it fair to give him a chance too,” Sridhar added.
