JOIN USSandeep Jajodia was ousted as Boxing India president following a vote of no-confidence in a Special General Meeting on Sunday. General-secretary Jay Kowli, who had tendered his resignation on Saturday night, was also ousted.
The meeting, which went on expected lines, saw the presence of 57 out of 64 general body members. Jajodia, who didn’t turn up for the meeting, lost by a huge margin of 2-55. He, however, issued a lengthy statement terming the meeting “illegal.”
“..this Special General Meeting which is sought to be held on 3rd of May, 2015 stands illegal and void. In the event you still go ahead with any such meeting, you would do so at your own risks and responsibility,” he said, while also pointing that “states who had representatives on the executive council by participating in the National Games (where even the official website recognises only IABF -- the association that has been derecognised by AIBA) should automatically stand disqualified.”
He also said the move had the “the potential of putting the sport in India back to the stone and dark ages” besides de-recognition by AIBA during the Olympic qualification year.
Meanwhile, the meeting was video-recorded, the tapes of which would be sent to AIBA. The members will also be appointing an interim president shortly with the name of current vice-president Miren Paul doing the rounds.
A member said that though Kowli had resigned, they did not want to take any chance.
“To avoid any misunderstandings later, we moved a non-confidence motion against him (Kowli) as he had sent his resignation to the president and not the house,” he said.
The members were confident of holding re-election for the posts in next 45-60 days. “We will have to hold fresh elections within six months. We want to pick the right candidates this time. We thought he (Jajodia) cared for boxing and pushed for his case. But today nobody wants him to continue” said West Bengal representative Asit Banerjee.
"The AIBA is kept in the loop and we have conformed to the constitution.”
Jajodia’s working relation had also gone bitter with Kowli, who was alleged to forge the president’s signature in a letter to Asian Boxing Confederation earlier his year.
Also present in the meeting was now defunct Indian Amateur Boxing Federation's (IABF) former president Abhay Singh Chautala but it was said that he didn’t take part in the proceedings. Reacting to Jajodia’s statement he said: “There is no doubt that they couldn’t do the job well. And it is not right to call this meeting illegal as the every people had elected him were present today to vote against him,” he said.
The BI was formed in September last after the AIBA dissolved IABF in 2013 citing manipulation of elections. The BI’s elections were monitored by AIBA but the Indian Olympic Association refused to grant it recognition.
The functioning of Jajodia also didn’t go well with many state units forming a strong front against him.