Who is AIFF Presidential candidate NA Haris?

The Congress legislator is also President of the Karnataka State Association.

In a landmark decision on Monday, the Supreme Court disbanded the CoA and also handed the daily operations of the AIFF back to the federation's administration, led by Acting Secretary General Sunando Dhar. The court also modified changes to the election programme and pushed back the elections, initially scheduled for August 28, by a week. The AIFF elections, to elect the next president, vice-presidents, treasurer and the Executive Committee, are now likely to be held within the opening two weeks of September.

While originally seven candidates had filed their nominations for the post of the AIFF President, only five have been approved by the returning officer. Of those five, Bhaichung Bhutia's nomination hangs under uncertainty following the latest SC order.

One of the candidates is Karnataka State Football Association President NA Haris, who has thrown his hat into the ring for the role. A member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly since 2008, NA Haris is also the current president of the state's football association. Here is what the 55-year-old's profile looks like.

FACT SHEET

Early Life

Nalapad Ahmed Haris’s father NA Mohammed moved from Kerala to Bhadravati in 1960 to set up a metal scrapping shop. He then started to work on government construction projects in Bengaluru, the biggest one being the Upper Krishna Project. He established Hotel Bangalore International and set up the Nalapad Group of Hotels.

NA Haris was born in Bengaluru and joined his father’s business in 1997 and played a key role in diversifying’s ventures into Nalapad Pipes, Nalapad Suraksha, Nalapad Infotech and Nalapad Energy. 

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Previous and current work

Haris become an aide of fellow Kerala native K.J George and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. In 2008, He was elected as MLA from the Shantinagar assembly at the age of 41 and gained widespread popularity through the NA Haris foundation, which provided scholarships to underprivileged children and organized job fairs. He was re-elected as MLA from Shantinagar in 2013. 

Connection to Indian Football

N.A Haris was unanimously elected as the President of the Karnataka State Football Association in August 2019. He will serve as President for a period of four years (2019-2023). Haris was previously the Acting President of KSFA from 2017.

He brought into effect a move that sought all office bearers of KSFA to be within 70 years of age. He has regularly attended review meetings and has petitioned for a proposal to rebuild the Bengaluru Football Stadium since 2019.

Key achievements

NA Haris was a part of a three-member committee formed to hold discussions with the AIFF’s legal team and speed up conducting elections. The committee also included senior vice president Subrata Dutta and Tamil Nādu’s Jessiah Villavarayar.

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The MLA has successfully lobbied for a Press Council of Karnataka to control the television coverage. He disclosed the highest income out of all winning MLAs with Rs 49.98 crores after the 2013 elections. 

He inaugurated a FIFA-quality Astroturf imported from Italy at the Karnataka State Football Association’s Bengaluru Football Stadium and has also inaugurated other turfs across the state mainly in Gadag.

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Controversies

During the 2018 Puttaiah Memorial Cup trophy celebrations, NA Haris was reportedly very annoyed at the Bengaluru FC ‘B’ players’ behaviour, asking to speak to the manager and other authorities. He was recently seen handing the trophies to 2022 Puttaiah Memorial Cup winners Kickstart FC. 

Away from the football, Haris’ 28-year-old son Mohammed was appointed as the General Secretary of the Bengaluru Youth Congress but has been under the scanner since assaulting a man at Farzi Café, a pub-cum restaurant in 2018. He was booked for that case in 2020.

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