New Delhi:
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has rejected former union sports minister Anurag Thakur’s nomination from the Himachal Pradesh state association for the federation’s elections scheduled for March 28.
A BFI notification, signed by its president Ajay Singh, said Thakur was “ineligible” for the federation elections as his nomination was in violation of the boxing body’s constitution as well as the National Sports Code.
Thakur was expected to throw his hat in the ring for the BFI president’s post. Among those who were found ineligible after scrutiny were representatives of the Tripura Amateur Boxing Association, Meghalaya Boxing Association’s Larry Kharpran. The eligibility of a nominee of the Delhi Amateur Boxing Association will be “subject to the orders of returning officer”, the notification said.
A BFI circular issued on March 7 stated that “only bonafide and duly elected members during the election AGM of the state units affiliated with the BFI (as submitted to the federation) shall be authorised to represent their respective states/union territories.”
Thirty two BFI units have submitted the names of two representatives each for the BFI elections.
A BFI official said Thakur was not an executive body member of the Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association.
“The order clearly stated that only elected members from their AGM can be nominated by state units. It was found that HPBA’s election record, in possession of the BFI, does not show him as a member of the executive body of the unit and therefore, as per BFI regulations and sports code, he is ineligible to be part of the electoral college,” a BFI official said.
HPBA wrote back to BFI on March 8 objecting to the federation’s circular saying “the provision unlawfully restricts” the autonomy of the state units in determining its representatives.
“The communication further imposes an arbitrary and additional requirement that representatives must be elected at the AGM… Under the existing BFI regulations each state unit has the prerogative to nominate representatives based on its internal governance structure,” HPBA president Rajesh Bhandari wrote in that communication to Ajay Singh, urging him to withdraw the notification.
There has been some turbulence in the boxing federation ahead of the elections. Ajay Singh’s tenure ended in February and the Indian Olympic Association appointed an ad hoc body on February 24 to run the sport on grounds that a delay in conducting fresh elections had led to “administrative instability”. However, BFI petitioned the Delhi high court and got a stay on the appointment of the ad hoc body. The federation also submitted to the court that it was making preparations to hold the elections.
Ajay Singh, who is SpiceJet chairman, is expected to seek a third term as president.
