New Delhi: Reacting to the apparent violation of the Sports Code during the election procedure of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has suspended recognition of the sports body with immediate effect.

This was announced here today by the Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Jitendra Singh.

Jitendra Singh said that decision has been taken as the elections of the IABF held on 23.09.2012 were in violation of the procedure laid down in the Sports Code.

The major defects that the Sports Ministry underlined were:

“ The publication of the electoral roll was flawed because it was not possible for the electoral roll to be dispatched to members by post prior to the last date for filing of nominations and merely publishing on the website is not considered sufficient notice or information to all members.”

“Members were not given sufficient time to file nominations as the gap between the finalization of the electoral roll and the filing of nomination was too short to allow people to travel large distances and file nominations personally.”

“Nominations of candidates were taken from the floor of the House on a date which was after last date of nomination and this is not permissible.”

So taking strong note of these offences, the ministry has suggested fresh elections and the suspension would not be revoked until new election process.

The Ministry also said that they will send a letter to IABF to conduct fresh election under independent supervision within 15 days and warned that failure in doing so will attract absolute de-recognition.

It comes as a big blow after the International Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) had provisionally suspended the Indian body citing manipulation of the recent IABF elections held in September.

“AIBA will now investigate this election and especially a potential political link between IOA President, as former Chairman of the IABF, and the IABF election,” IABF earlier said through a statement.

By Indian Sports News Network