On Wednesday, the India boxing federation (BFI) rejected the appointment of Anurag Thakur on Wednesday for inclusion in the electoral college finalized for the March 28 elections, saying that the former Minister of Sports was “unacceptable” to represent the Himachal Pradesh. The Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA) had sent the president’s names and President Rajesh Bhandari. The BFI published an electoral college of 60 members which was finalized after a meticulous examination. Thakur, a deputy for the BJP Lok Sabha, was to contest the position of president of BFI. “Mr. Anurag Singh Thakur (Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association) – The State Unit had sent the name, however, he is deemed inadmissible to the violation of the India boxing federation at 07.03.2025 and to the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011,” said BFI, explaining the decision.
The opinion of March 7, sent to all affiliated state associations, had mentioned that “only the members of the good and duly elected during the electoral aga (duly notified to BFI) of state units affiliated to the BFI are authorized to represent their respective union states / territories”.
“Mr. Thakur is not an elected member of the state organization of the Himachal Pradesh, which is why his name has been rejected. It is the work of the BFI to examine all the names and to send the list of candidates eligible for the return officer, who will now download the list,” said a BFI source.
However, HPBA said Thakur is an elected member of the Executive Council of the State Unit.
“Anurag Thakur is an elected member. He has been a member for several years in the various capacities, including the president. But now he is elected member of the CE. We have all the documents,” said HPBA secretary, Surender, Kumar Shandil, PTI.
“We have given the two names on our sides, let the return officer do his job,” he added.
The BFI source argued that being the parent body, it has recordings of the past elections led by the bodies of the States and the name of Thakur does not appear there.
According to the constitution of the BFI, “each member association is represented by two representatives of members authorized by the president of the secretary general / secretary of the association at the electoral college.
Although the elections are scheduled for March 28, the deadline for the deposit of appointments and withdrawals has not yet been announced by the BFI.
“We have no schedule, which is a very delaying tactic of the BFI,” said Shandil.
The president of BFI, Ajay Singh, who is the president and managing director of Spice Jet, should request a re -election after having already spent two terms at the head of the federation.
The BFI also rejected the names of Larry Kharpran (Meghalya) and Asish Kumar Saha (Tripipura) for the same reason and specified that the two names sent by the state organization of Delhi – Rohit Jainendra Jain and Neeraj Kantt – submitted the authorization of the return officer.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had set up an ad hoc panel of five members to supervise the daily operation of boxing in the country after the BFI did not have the elections in time.
However, the High Court of Delhi, on March 4, sparked the order when the Federation approached it, calling for this “arbitrary and illegal” decision.
The BFI was supposed to lead its elections on February 2, 2025.
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