BFI Elections: Jaslal Pradhan to challenge Ajay Singh for president's post

Image used for representational purpose (Reuters)

Olympian Jaslal Pradhan will challenge Ajay Singh, who is seeking a third straight term, for the president's post in the much-delayed Boxing Federation of India elections, scheduled for Thursday.

According to the final list, Singh, representing the Uttarakhand state unit, will be up against Sikkim Amateur Boxing Association chief Pradhan, who competed at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in the light welterweight category, after the Returning Officer Justice (retd) Rajesh Tandon rejected the candidature of former BFI vice president Rajesh Bhandari for "violating the provision of the Model Election Guidelines" last week.

Bhandari will, however, contest for the vice-president’s post.

For the secretary-general’s position, Uttar Pradesh Boxing’s Pramod Kumar, former BFI treasurer Digvijay Singh and Delhi’s Neeraj Jain are in the fray.

Tamil Nadu’s Pon Baskaran, Pondicherry’s R. Gopu and Odisha’s Anil Bohidar will contest for the treasurer’s post.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court, while hearing pleas of four state units challenging the BFI interim committee’s decision to conduct polls and the validity of the new constitution, gave its nod on Monday for the elections to proceed.

However, the results will remain subject to the final outcome of the case.

The tenure of the previous BFI office-bearers ended on February 2.

Elections were initially scheduled for March 28, but the process was stalled due to legal wrangling, including multiple appeals and counter-appeals.