BFI office-bearers granted extension in EGM, elections set for February next year

New Delhi: The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) on Thursday gave a three-month extension to its office-bearers and resolved to conduct elections by February after the process had to be put on hold this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The resolution was passed at the BFI’s Emergent General Meeting on Thursday which was presided over by incumbent President Ajay Singh via video conferencing. The BFI elections, to be held in September originally, were postponed to December because of the pandemic before being suspended further. “It is hereby resolved to extend the tenure of existing Office Bearers and EC Members by three months or till elections are held, whichever is earlier and to hold the AGM and Election in February 2021…,” the resolution adopted at the meeting stated. “…if physical meeting is not possible then meeting and election may be held through video conferencing. “It is also resolved that date of the election, election process and other modalities will be finalised after consultation with Learned Returning Officer. Director Administration will sign an appropriate affidavit and inform the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi,” it added. Representatives of all the State/UT and units affiliated to BFI attended the meeting, which also featured federation secretary Jay Kowli, and senior officials such as Hemanta Kumar Kalita, Rajesh Bhandari, Anil Kumar Bohidar and Narendra Kumar Nirwan. Also there was Singh’s challenger for the BFI President’s post, Ashish Shelar from the Maharashtra unit. Shelar is a BJP leader of prominence in the state and a former president of the Mumbai Cricket Association. The matter of BFI elections reached the Delhi High Court earlier this month after the Uttar Pradesh unit filed a petition challenging the EGM. The court refused to grant a stay on the meeting but asked the federation to submit its plans of holding elections by 15 January. “The meeting went off rather smoothly. No fireworks as such. Everyone agreed amicably to the resolution and hopefully it will all pass off well in February,” a top official, who attended the meet, told PTI. The body will need to conduct elections to get affiliation of the sports ministry.