New Delhi,  Former Chief Electoral Officer, Government of Bihar, Ajay Nayak, has been appointed as Returning Officer for the conduct of Hockey India elections, it was announced on Monday. AK Majumdar has been appointed as the Assistant Returning Officer.

The appointment of the two senior officials comes days after a meeting was held on August 17 between the international hockey federation (FIH) and the Committee of Administrators (CoA), Hockey India.

The meeting was attended by FIH acting president Seif Ahmed, CEO Thierry Weil and the members of the CoA of Hockey India, including Justice Anil R. Dave, SY Quraishi, and Olympian Zafar Iqbal.

In this meeting it was decided to conclude the election process for Hockey India by October 9, 2022.

"In pursuance of the same, the process has been initiated with the appointment of Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officer by CoA for the conduct of the upcoming elections. They will be assuming their positions with immediate effect," said a Hockey India statement.

Clouds of uncertainty hung over the hosting of the 2023 FIH World Cup in Odisha in January, following the CoA being instituted to take care of the functioning of the national sports federation, but positive response from the FIH to the draft constitution for Hockey India and an election timeline lifted the uncertainty.

Hockey India was, just like the All India Football Federation (AIFF), facing the threat of suspension from FIH for alleged third-party intervention in the governance of the sport in the country.

While the AIFF has been suspended by FIFA, putting the U-17 Women's World Cup scheduled to be held in India in October in a limbo, Hockey India survived the threat as the FIH delegation accepted the principal changes in the draft constitution, gave the CoA 10 days to submit the approved constitution, and set a deadline of October 28 to complete the election process.