MUMBAI: India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises said in a stock exchange filing on Sunday that it had sought a further extension of a merger deadline from the Indian arm of Japan’s Sony Group “to make the scheme effective”.

Zee Entertainment said in seperate filing on Saturday that independent board directors Vivek Mehra and Sasha Mirchandani had not got the votes needed to secure their re-appointment ahead of a Dec. 21 deadline for completion of the merger.

India clears Sony-Zee deal to form $10bn entertainment powerhouse

The reappointment of the two Zee Entertainment independent directors was being closely watched as they could have influenced the selection of the head of the new merged entity.