Ajay Singh, who is also the managing director of SpiceJet Airlines, being felicitated after his re-election as President of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) for a third consecutive term, in Gurugram, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Ajay Singh defeated Olympian boxer Jaslal Pradhan to be re-elected the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president for a third consecutive term on Thursday (August 21, 2025).
Ajay polled 40 votes to Pradhan’s 26 at the elections held in Gurugram, according to BFI sources.
Pramod Kumar was elected the secretary-general, while Pon Baskaran was elected the treasurer.
Fairuz Mohamed, the chairman of the BFI interim committee and a World Boxing (WB) representative, expressed satisfaction over the “fair and transparent” election process as per the “constitution approved by WB.”
The election results will be subject to the final outcome of a case in the Delhi High Court.
The long overdue BFI elections were impacted due to legal battles amid allegations of irregularities, including the ‘undemocratic’ change in the BFI constitution, and attracted attention due to rejection of former Sports Minister Anurag Thakur’s name from the electoral college.
No observer from ministry, IOA; World Boxing chief also skips polls
The polls were conducted in the presence of Returning Officer Justice (retd) Rajesh Tandon and BFI interim committee head Fairuz Mohammed of Singapore, deputed by World Boxing as its observer.
World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst and Secretary General Mike McAtee, originally scheduled to attend as observers, were also not present.
“Boris was unable to come yesterday, which was the plan. He will be travelling to India in the next few days to finalise the venue for the World Boxing Cup in November,” Singh said.
The Sports Ministry and the IOA did not send observers, a move that drew objections from the rival faction led by Himachal Pradesh unit chief Rajesh Bhandari.
“We wrote to them but they declined without giving any reason,” Singh said.
It is understood that the Ministry is adopting a wait and watch approach until the court delivers its verdict.
“We have already told the Delhi High Court that we do not think that the procedure followed in the conduct of these elections is right. We will wait now and see what the court says,” a Ministry source said.
The results of the polls remain subject to the final verdict of an ongoing case in the Delhi High Court, where several state units have challenged the constitutional amendments introduced by the interim committee that had been overseeing BFI’s daily affairs.
The High Court has set September 23 as the next date of hearing.
“Of course the matter is going on in the court and the court had said in its last hearing that they wanted the elections to go on.
“They also made the result of the elections subject to the final outcome of the case which is what happens every time a legal matter is filed in an election. So all of us will abide by the law of the land,” Singh said.
Singh, who was first elected to office in 2016, said his priority would be to focus on grassroots development.
“My foremost commitment is to ensure that every ounce of energy now goes into strengthening grassroots programs, empowering our junior and youth athletes, and building on India’s growing stature in world boxing.” The elections were initially scheduled for March 28 but were repeatedly stalled due to a series of petitions, appeals and counter-appeals.
(with inputs from PTI)
Published – August 21, 2025 11:32 pm IST