Delhi HC seeks BFI, Centre's stand on Anurag Thakur, HP boxing association's plea on elections

New Delhi, May 30 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the stand of the Centre and the Boxing Federation of India on a petition by the Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association and former sports minister Anurag Thakur over a dispute concerning the elections of the federation.

Issuing notice on the petition, Justice Mini Pushkarna also sought response from the Indian Olympic Association and Ajay Singh, who headed BFI when the elections were initially scheduled.

The judge directed that the matter be listed on August 18 when a similar petition by the Delhi Amateur Boxing Association is scheduled to be taken up.

The present petition came up for hearing after the Supreme Court on May 19 referred all the pleas on the BFI elections to the Delhi High Court.

In its petition, Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA) and Thakur challenged a March 7 order by then BFI president Ajay Singh, which restricted nominations for the electoral college to only elected members of state associations.

They also assailed the consequent "arbitrary"exclusion of Thakur, from the electoral roll on the basis of the order "without any hearing or explanation".

Thakur, an executive member of HPBA, was nominated to contest the elections on March 28.

The petitioners therefore sought directions for the conduct of BFI elections under independent supervision of a returning officer to be appointed by the high court as well as inclusion of their nominees in the electoral college.

The petitioners were represented by advocate Chaitanya Mahajan.

"The petition challenges the arbitrary and mala fide conduct of respondent No. 3, Mr. Ajay Singh, former president of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), who, despite his term having expired on 02.02.2025, continued to unlawfully interfere with the electoral process of BFI, manipulate the electoral college, and deny legitimate representation to the petitioners," said the petition.

"The petitioners submit that the entire sequence of events, including the manipulation of the electoral roll, contemptuous disregard of court orders, and misappropriation of federation funds, warrants immediate intervention of this court to protect the sanctity of the electoral process," it added.

On March 19, while dealing with the petition by Delhi Amateur Boxing Association, the court stayed the federation's March 7 decision to allow only elected members of its affiliated state units to represent their respective states in the upcoming elections in the sports body.

Delhi Amateur Boxing Association had moved the high court after the final list of electoral college approved by the then returning officer had omitted the two names sent by it -- Rohit Jainendra Jain and Neeraj Kant Bhatt on the ground that they were "ineligible" on the basis of the March 7 circular.

The BFI elections, initially slated for March 28, have been postponed. PTI ADS ZMN ZMN