Himachal Pradesh High Court allows Anurag Thakur to participate in Boxing Federation polls

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Thursday allowed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Anurag Thakur to file his nomination for the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) polls [Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association and another v. Union of India and others]..Justice Ajay Mohan Goel ordered the BFI to extend the last date of nomination to enable Thakur to file his nomination and permit him to represent the Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA) in the BFI's Annual General Meeting and fully participate in it “including but not limited to the contest for any post” for the BFI.The election process will remain subject to the final outcome of the petition moved by HPBA against the rejection of Thakur’s nomination, by BFI President Ajay Singh. The order stated,"Accordingly, as an ad-interim measure, this Court stays the operation of Notice, dated 07.03.2025, as well as the rejection of nomination of one of the two nominated members by petitioner No.1, namely, Mr. Anurag Singh Thakur and directs respondent No.3-Federation [BFI] to treat the nomination of Mr. Anurag Singh Thakur alongwith the nomination of Mr. Rajesh Bhandari to be a valid nomination for the Electoral College by petitioner No.1 and proceed with the election process in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of respondent No.3".The Court was hearing a petition challenging a notice issued by BFI President Ajay Singh rejecting the nomination of Thakur for participation in the BFI elections.Justice Goel observed that the BFI President is not the General Council of the sports body and cannot unilaterally issue any notice on interpretation or implementation of the BFI Regulations.It added that the Rules and Regulations of the BFI do not mention that only duly elected members of the state units affiliated with the BFI can be nominated to the electoral college.“Therefore, this Court has no hesitation in holding that prima facie it is evident that notice, dated 07.03.2025 (Annexure P-2) has been issued by respondent No.2 without any authority and without any power under the Rules and Regulations of respondent No.3, which supplants the provisions of the Rule and Regulations and does violence with them,” it said..Senior Advocate Abhinav Mukerji with Advocates Chaitanya Mahajan, Amit Kumar Dhumal, Richa Thakur, Parul Negi, Padamja Sharma and Devang Sharma represented the HPBA.Deputy Solicitor General of India Balram Sharma represented the Union of India.Senior Advocate RL Sood with Advocate Arjun Lall Sood represented BFI President Ajay Singh. Senior Panel Counsel VB Verma represented the BFI. .[Read Order]