Anurag Thakur again disqualified for BFI elections, electoral college removes name from list

Former Sports Minister Anurag Thakur was disqualified again from being a candidate for the elections of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and his name was struck off from the electoral college list published on Wednesday for the August 21 elections. The Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA) had presented Thakur and its president, Rajesh Bhandari, as its two representatives for the annual general meeting (AGM).

In April, the World Boxing had formed an interim committee to manage the day-to-day activities of the federation. According to the interim committee headed by Fairuz Mohammad, Thakur's nomination is in violation of Article 20 (3) and (7) of the BFI constitution. Article (3) states that a nominee who attends the general council meeting shall be an elected member of the member association of the state during the electoral annual general meeting held with due notice to the BFI and in the presence of the BFI observer.

Anurag Thakur is not an elected member of the HPBA and his nomination was rejected on the same ground before the elections on March 28. At that time, the disqualification was based on an office instruction issued by the then BFI president Ajay Singh. Article (7) disqualifies persons who are government servants or hold any public office and Anurag Thakur is a current MP from Himachal Pradesh.

Similarly, the nomination of Delhi Amateur Boxing Association's Rohit Jainendra Jain was also rejected for violating Article (3) of the amended constitution. Earlier this week, HPBA president Bhandari claimed that he has filed a fresh suit challenging the validity of the constitutional amendments made by the interim committee without the approval of the executive council.

The term of the former BFI office-bearers ended on February 2. The elections were earlier scheduled to be held on March 28 but the process was postponed due to several legal disputes. World Boxing has set August 31 as the deadline to complete the elections.