BFI polls: Anurag Thakur’s name excluded from electoral college

Anurag Thakur.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Former Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur’s name has not been included in the electoral college issued by Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh for the upcoming BFI elections.

Interestingly, BFI secretary Hemanta Kalita has sent another list of voters, including Thakur’s name, to the returning officer.

There was speculation that Thakur — a former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) — will run for the BFI president’s post against the incumbent Ajay Singh, who is seeking a third term. This was after the Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA) nominated the former minister as a voter for the elections. HPBA president Rajesh Bhandari, also a BFI vice-president, was the other nominated member from the state.

Following the scrutiny of names, the electoral college notification, comprising 60 names, referred to Ajay Singh’s letter on March 7 and the National Sports Code (NSC) to explain that Thakur was ineligible as he was not an elected member of the HPBA.

Apart from Thakur, the electoral college holds Larry Kharpran (Meghalaya), Rupak Debroy and Asish Kumar Saha (Tripura) ineligible on different grounds.

There is a question mark over Rohit Jain (who is a supporter of Thakur) and Neeraj Bhatt, both representing Delhi Amateur Boxing Association (DABA), as the electoral college notification says that their cases will be decided by the returning officer.

As per the BFI constitution, “every member association will be represented by two member representatives authorised by the president or secretary of the association.”

A majority of member state units had jointly written to the BFI chief, opposing his ‘unilateral’ March 7 order which “disregards established procedures” and “stands in clear violation of the NCS.”

Sources claimed that BFI secretary Hemanta Kalita has sent another list of voters to the returning officer Justice (retd.) R.K. Gauba.

Meanwhile, the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), which functioned as the National federation earlier, has written to the Sports Ministry and the IOA to de-recognise the BFI as it is “not registered” under the Societies Registration Act.