PT Usha, the first-ever woman president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), has called the Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOM) elections a big farce. A fifth place finish — of the six candidates only four were to be elected — practically rules out one of the best track athletes’ chances of returning to the helm. Anju Bobby George (53 votes), Rani Rampal (50), Dola Banerjee (45) and Saina Nehwal (43) all polled more than Usha, who garnered 40 votes out of the total 80 available votes.Speaking to The Tribune on Monday, Usha alleged that a “big fraud” had been committed to oust her from the IOA office. She requested both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene.“Winning and losing is normal but results have to be fair. I am certain that this (result) is fraudulent. I cannot finish fifth; I should be at the top. I know that I polled over 25 single-preference votes, and those voters all called to confirm the same. Mathematically, it is impossible for her (Anju) to get 53 votes!” Usha claimed.She further stated that she had only agreed to take up the IOA presidency in 2022 on the insistence of PM Modi. “First, I was nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP, and then I was asked to become the IOA president. I took seven days to give my approval, and I only agreed because I thought the Prime Minister wanted me to clean up the mess. I have worked solely toward realising his vision for women’s empowerment, fighting for athletes, and standing against corruption,” she said.“If someone wanted me out, they could have told me decently, ‘Ushaji, please do not contest, we have someone else lined up.’ I would have happily withdrawn. I spoke to the Sports Minister (Dr Mansukh Mandaviya), but he did not indicate anything. Then I met the Home Minister (Amit Shah), who said he would speak to the minister. This outcome is an insult to the PM’s initiative. He got me here, and while he is busy with more important national matters to know the exact details of what happened, I am hoping he intervenes,” she added.Usha has already sent a complaint to the IOC, questioning the “underhand” tactics used by the faction opposing her within the executive committee. She also strongly questioned the conduct of returning officer Sanjay Kumar Srivastava for failing to act on at least four separate complaints regarding code of conduct breaches by certain candidates and executive members.Usha shared a WhatsApp message showing that four candidates—Anju, Rani, Dola, and Saina — had actively campaigned together under the banner of the “Bharat Panel”. Her complaints also named executive committee members Bhupinder Singh Bajwa and Yogeshwar Dutt for illicitly soliciting votes, and Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra for allegedly forcing athletes to show email acknowledgements to verify their votes.“The voters were under pressure. I know a few of them have been told to vote saying ‘PMO wants it’ or ‘Sports Minister wants it’. People will worry if someone calls and says that I am calling from the PMO and no one knows whether their names were being used to get votes. I will ask the IOC to check the results,” she added.