New Delhi, Feb. 17: The fate of the upcoming elections in the faction-ridden Rajasthan Cricket Association hangs in balance as the Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to hear on Friday the matters relating to its poll which is scheduled for February 23.

RCA president Lalit Modi, against whom criminal cases have been lodged by the rival faction led by Kishore Rungta for allegedly abusing his official position, has questioned the decision of Association’s secretary Subhash Joshi for announcing the date of elections without holding the Annual General Meeting.

Modi, joined by two district associations (Kota and Sriganganagar), mentioned their applications before a Bench headed by chief justice K.G. Balakrishnan and sought an order for maintaining status quo relating to the elections.

However, the Bench, which earlier on an application by Modi had decided to hear the matters relating to RCA elections on February 23 advanced it to February 20.

Senior advocate Ashok Desai appearing for Modi said that the rivals have changed the constitution of the Association on January 31 without calling the AGM and suddenly a new notice of holding the elections on February 23 was sent to the members.

He said issues relating to RCA was pending for four years and elections of the associations executive body was held as per the February 11, 2005 order of the apex court, the term of which was to end on February 21, 2009.

Modi also expressed apprehension that the state government may take coercive action.

— PTI