Ex-Minister of Sports Anurag Thakur was again made ineligible to contest the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) elections, with his name being left out of the electoral college announced on Wednesday for the August 21 elections. The Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA) had recommended Thakur and its President Rajesh Bhandari as its two representatives for the Annual General Meeting (AGM), where the agenda of prominence is the election of new office-bearers for the 2025–2029 term.
BFI Interim Committee Releases Electoral College Without Thakur
Though, the BFI interim committee, formed by World Boxing in April to run the federation’s day-to-day administration, released a 66-member electoral college after the scrutiny, leaving out Thakur’s name.
According to the interim committee chaired by Fairuz Mohamed, Thakur’s nomination was found to be “in violation of Article 20 (iii) and (vii) of the Constitution of BFI approved by World Boxing.” As per the revised BFI Constitution, approved by World Boxing on May 18, Clause (iii) states that the nominee to attend the General Council Meeting “shall be an elected member of the State/UT member association during the election AGM duly notified to BFI and in presence of BFI observer.” Thakur is not an elected member of HPBA, and his nomination had previously been rejected on similar grounds ahead of the elections initially scheduled for March 28.
Past Directive by Former BFI President Now Part of Constitution
The disqualification then was pursuant to an office directive by then BFI President Ajay Singh. That provision is now included in the officially revised constitution.
Further, Clause (vii) also disqualifies those who are “Government servants or holding a public office,” and Thakur is a current Member of Parliament from Himachal Pradesh.
In the same vein, Delhi Amateur Boxing Association’s Rohit Jainendra Jain nomination was also rejected for being in contravention of Clause (iii) of the new constitution.
HPBA Challenges Amendments Made Without Executive Approval
Earlier this week, HPBA president Bhandari claimed that they had filed another petition challenging the validity of the constitutional amendments affected by the interim committee in the absence of Executive Council approval.
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The tenure of the previous BFI office-bearers ended on February 2. Elections were supposed to be held on March 28, but the process was stalled because of legal wrangling, including multiple appeals and counter-appeals.
World Boxing has given August 31 as the cut-off date for completing the elections.
