New Delhi: The long-running feud in the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) is expected to come to an end as outgoing president Ajay Singh has been elected as the federation’s President for the third consecutive time. The BFI elections were a long-awaited one and Ajay Singh retained his chair by defeating Jaslal Pradhan on Thursday.
The elections, which were postponed for over six months amid a legal battle, were held in the presence of returning officer Justice Rajesh Tandon and BFI interim committee chief Fairuz Mohammed of Singapore, who was sent as an observer by World Boxing.
World Boxing President Boris Van Der Vorst and Secretary General Mike McAtee were to be observers in the election, but they did not participate. The Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) also did not send any observers. Ajay won the election by a margin of 40-26. The new general secretary of the federation will be Pramod Kumar of Uttar Pradesh who replaced Hemanta Kalita of Assam.
Kalita was disqualified from contesting elections after completing two consecutive four-year terms as office-bearers are required to serve a rest period in between. Pon Baskaran of Tamil Nadu was elected treasurer. The result of the election will depend on the outcome of the case pending in the Delhi High Court.
Several state units had challenged the constitutional amendments made by the interim committee running the day-to-day affairs of the BFI. The elections were initially scheduled for March 28 but were postponed due to several petitions, appeals and counter appeals.
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