Mehta's group have demanded an Emergency Meeting of the body's Executive Council take place in New Delhi on November 7. 

A total of 19 out of 27 Executive Council members backed the call during a meeting in the capital city on Friday (October 27).

They are proposing to discuss a motion made by Hockey India to expel the IOA President to be discussed at the meeting.

The faction are also demanding that the planned IOA Executive Council meeting on November 9 and the Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for December 14 be held in New Delhi rather than the original location of Chennai.

"I am in receipt of the written communications from 19 office bearers and members of the Executive Council of the IOA which they have requested for shifting of the venue of both the meetings, which is sought to be held as per the notice issued by the President, IOA, from Chennai to Delhi," Mehta told the Indian Express.

"They have desired that the venue of the meeting at Chennai is not convenient for holding these meetings on account of various reasons."

Ramachandran, though, has rejected both demands and claimed that only the President can determine the date or location for such meetings.

"As per the IOA constitution, I have the authority to decide the time, date and venue for AGM and as regards the EC meeting, I will direct him [Rajiv]," he told Sportstar.

Ramachandran also claimed that the Hockey India motion for his expulsion is "not in the agenda of the AGM".

Around eight Executive Council members aligned to Ramachandran are reported by the Indian Express to have attended a dinner meeting last week called by former IOA President Abhay Singh Chautala.

Tensions within the national governing body have intensified over recent months.

A first area of disagreement involved an aborted appointment of Chautala and fellow former IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi as honorary life Presidents.

Kalmadi, IOA President from 1996 to 2012, spent 10 months in jail from April 2011 to January 2012 on alleged corruption charges related to his leadership of the of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. 

He was charged with conspiracy, forgery and misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act, but is yet to face trial.

Chautala was elected IOA President in 2012 but left the post and was replaced by the then-World Squash Federation President Ramachandran after the IOA were suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Government interference in the election.

A second, and more pressing, clash concerns the upcoming elections at the December AGM, where International Hockey Federation President Narinder Batra is planning to stand against Ramachandran.

At present, however, Batra is not eligible to stand as he is not an member of the IOA Executive Council. 

His supporters, including Mehta, are hoping to solicit the two-thirds majority of the AGM required for a constitutional change.

Other figures aligned to the Batra camp are thought to include former Indian IOC member, Randhir Singh.

IOA senior vice-president Virender Nanavati and treasurer Anil Khanna are considered other backers of Ramachandran.

Much will also depend on the opinions of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the IOC.

The OCA awarded Ramachandran a special Merit Award in 2016 but the influence there of Singh, who stood down as OCA general secretary in 2015, could also prove significant.