CHENNAI: The Boxing Federation of India election is getting more and more intriguing and messier. Days ahead of the election, the BFI president, Ajay Singh, has suspended its secretary Hemanta Kalita and treasurer Digvijay Singh over alleged financial irregularities. This, on a day, when the Returning Officer rejected Kalita’s name from the final list of nominated candidates on Tuesday.
According to a letter issued by the BFI president on Tuesday, the decision has been taken after an investigation by a former judge. “Justice Jain has concluded his investigation and submitted his report, which has found both of you guilty of serious charges of financial irregularities and mismanagement of funds,” the letter said. The investigation was carried out on the basis of a complaint received by the Sports Authority of India (SAI). “The findings of the report establish a clear breach of fiduciary duties and responsibilities expected from individuals holding key positions within the Federation,” the BFI chief said in the letter. The investigation was initiated after the SAI had asked the BFI to investigate the charges levelled against the office-bearers. It is understood that the first complaint was made in December last year and gained momentum in February this year.
"It is deeply disheartening because I not only trusted them but believed that, as office bearers, they would work towards the growth of boxing in India and its global stature. However, their actions have left me with no choice but to take this course. It is unfortunate that instead of strengthening the sport, they have undermined the very foundation we worked so hard to build," Ajay Singh said.
Kalita was quite crossed with the letter. He dismissed the allegations as baseless and said that the treasurer and he would take legal action. Kalita even claimed that since the RO has taken over the election process, the BFI president has no power to send such a letter. “This is also in violation of our constitution that says that any decision to suspend office-bearers has to be passed in the executive council and the general assembly,” he said. Kalita even claimed that the BFI chief is resorting to this because he doesn’t have majority in the election. The investigation apparently was initiated when the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had formed an ad hoc committee.
This is the usual trajectory a sports election takes when there are discrepancies and contests. With clear conflict in the open, it needs to be seen how other members react.
Final nominated candidates' list
The BFI election has entered the next phase after the RO finalized the nominated candidates list for the elections to be held on March 28. As expected, the name of secretary general who had filed in nomination for the post of president was rejected on the ground of violation of National Sports Development Code of India 2011. It is understood that Anurag Thakur has approached the court and a hearing was scheduled on Tuesday.
RK Gauba, the RO, heard all parties concerned on Tuesday before reaching a conclusion. Gauba, in his ‘Record of Proceedings for Scrutiny of nominations’, said that Kalita has to go into mandatory cooling off. As pointed by this newspaper from the beginning, the NSDCI 2011 mandates that a secretary and treasurer (both considered office-bearers) can serve a maximum of two terms of four years before going into cooling off if he or she wants to contest for the president’s post.
“The Secretary General and the Treasurer can serve a maximum of two (2) successive terms of four (4) years each, after which a minimum cooling off period of four (4) years will apply before either can seek fresh election for the posts of secretary general and treasurer,” said the RO’s record. Kaliata, however, could have contested for any other posts in the Executive Council but has not filed nomination for any posts other than that of president’s.
With this, the number of candidates contesting for president’s post is three. BFI president will be squaring off against former Indian Amateur Boxing Association and Indian Boxing Federation secretary general Rajesh Bhandari and D Chanderlal, secretary of the Kerala boxing association. Bhandari and Chanderlal are backing the Anurag Thakur faction. The former sports minister’s name was deleted over violation of rules specified in a letter written by the BFI president on March 7. Bhandari is the Himachal Pradesh boxing unit president and he along with the secretary had forwarded Thakur’s name. Apart from two rejections on technical grounds and one subject to a court order (Odisha’s Anil Kumar Bohidar), most of the nominations were accepted by the RO.
Focus on sports code
The suspense will continue for a few days more as last date of withdrawal is March 21 at 5pm. Though two different panels have emerged, there will be contests for the posts of secretary and treasurer, as of now. Usually, sports elections are settled well before the election. But the last BFI election was quite intense with Singh just about managing to win by 10 votes, less than 2/3 majority. The Delhi High Court, in its order dated 16.08.2022, said that re-election for the post of office-bearer has to be 2/3. Even the guidelines listed out in the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare directive in 1975 says … “an office-bearer who has completed one term shall only be deemed to have been elected if he/she secures a majority of not less than two third of the members of the national Federation/Association concerned. In the event of failure to obtain such majority, the concerned office-bearer shall be deemed to have lost the election.”
The same 2022 order also is going by the 1975 guidelines where it said that an office-bearer can remain in the post for only two four-year term and should be followed by a cooling off period of four years. And re-election has to be two-third majority. The order goes on to say, "...the maximum tenure in the EC can be three, in any post or in different posts, with a cooling off period of one tenure. In case of successive terms for the same post, the cooling off will be after the second term." This could include the post of president as well.
Interestingly, the sports ministry’s guidelines of 2010, signed by former sports secretary and then joint secretary Injeti Srinivas, says that “the other provisions of in respect of the tenure limit as contained in the letter of 1975 mentioned above shall remain.” It needs to be seen how things will pan out in the next few days.