Delhi High court has refused to postpone the Archery Association of India (AAI) elections scheduled on Saturday, rejecting a plea moved by Jharkhand Archery Association (JAA) after its patron Arjun Munda was not allowed to contest as a candidate for AAI president.

The court ruled on Friday that the Archery Association of India polls would be held as per schedule.

The Jharkhand archery outfit's joint secretary S.K. Mohanty had moved high court after the former Jharkhand chief minister’s candidature was rejected by returning officer S.Y. Quraishi who said the former chief minister was not eligible to contest as he was chief patron and not an office-bearer of JAA.

However, JAA, which was represented by noted lawyer and senior vice-president of Indian Olympic Association R.K. Anand, argued that Quraishi could not debar Munda from filing his candidature for the president’s post as he had been the chief patron of JAA with all powers of an executive committee member vested in him.

According to Munda’s camp, at an AGM held in May, it was decided to extend all the powers of an executive committee member to the patron, thereby, making Munda eligible for the contest.

Munda said he would honour the court verdict. “We wanted the elections to be postponed but it did not materialise,” he said from New Delhi.

A Munda supporter said he had a fair chance of winning the elections as he had the backing of a sizable number of AAI state units. “I think rejecting his candidature was not justified. I am very disappointed,” a former JAA officer-bearer said.

With Munda out of the fray, the contest is now between Assam Archery Association vice-president B.V. Papa Rao and Tripura Archery Association secretary Rupak Debroy.

Jamshedpur-based Dronacharya awardee and national medallist Purnima Mahto has, however, been elected unopposed as vice-president (wo-man) as a part of the new AAI set-up.