New Delhi, Nov 2 Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh will not contest for a place on World Boxing’s Executive Board at its November 20 elections after his candidature was deemed ineligible by the vetting panel in September.
The determination by the vetting panel was made on September 1, with Singh, who had filed his nomination for an Executive Board position, being declared ineligible under a provision relating to candidates who are “under investigation or have been sanctioned for any breach of the Code of Ethics or any Rules and Policies”.
However, it is understood that his candidature was rejected on grounds unrelated to boxing.
“His candidature was rejected on technical grounds not related to boxing,” BFI executive director Colonel Arun Malik told PTI.
Singh will, however, travel to Panama to attend the Congress and exercise his voting rights.
Meanwhile, Singh on Monday questioned the legitimacy of a meeting held by a rival faction of the BFI last week, which was originally intended to be a Special General Meeting (SGM) convened by secretary general Pramod Kumar to move a no-confidence motion against him.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed Kumar to keep the meeting in abeyance until the next hearing on November 13.
“If he (Kumar) has that majority, let him write to me and requisition a meeting. We saw the so-called meeting they held and the states they claimed to have support from,” Singh said.
“There were unauthorised people sitting there under the banner of those states. In some cases, we saw journalists; in others, coaches. In some cases, old bodies that had lost elections in those states were sitting there.”
Eight of the 13 BFI executive committee members, including Kumar, senior vice-presidents Rajesh Bhandari and Leonardo D’Gama, treasurer Pon Baskaran and joint secretaries Teli Khai and Swapan Banerjee, had gathered in the national capital for the meeting
Singh said the faction should follow the procedure laid down in the BFI constitution to move a no-confidence motion.
“There has to be a two-thirds majority to requisition a meeting. Two-thirds of them have to write to me to requisition a meeting for a no-confidence motion. Then I will summon such a meeting, and three-fourths of the members have to vote against me,” he said.
He also said that 23 authorised state units had attended a separate meeting in Bagdogra to discuss the future of Indian boxing and preparations for the Olympics.
“While they were having this meeting in Delhi, 23 states were sitting in Bagdogra with their authorised representatives — presidents and secretaries — and trying to deliberate on the future of Indian boxing and Olympic preparation for our boxers,” Singh said.
(PTI News)
