New Delhi, Aug. 8 -- A day after Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA) nominated Anurag Thakur for the August 21 Boxing Federation of India (BFI) elections, the interim committee, headed by World Boxing representative, Fairuz Mohamed, the Singapore federation president, has rejected it. The new electoral college was prepared on Wednesday and has been handed over to the newly-appointed Returning Officer, Justice (retd) Rajesh Tandon, who was appointed on Monday. However, part of the electoral college are erstwhile BFI treasurer Digvijay Singh and secretary Hemanta Kalita, who were removed by outgoing president Ajay Singh over charges of financial wrongdoing. Digvijay Singh has been nominated by the Madhya Pradesh unit and Kalita by Assam. Delhi Amateur Boxing Association's Rohit Jainendra Jain's nomination has also been rejected. Both Rohit and Thakur have been found in violation of Article 20 (iii) of BFI's constitution that mandates the candidates to be "an elected member of the State/UT member association during the election AGM duly notified to BFI and in presence of BFI observer." Thakur's nomination has also been found in violation of Article 20 (vii) that states the candidate "shall not be a Government servant or hold a public office." Thakur, a former union minister, is currently a Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh. State units - Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat - have petitioned courts challenging these sections of the BFI statute. The pleas will come up for hearing in Himachal, Delhi and MP on Thursday. Each state unit is required to nominate two candidates for the elections. The rejection of Rohit's nomination means Neeraj Jain will be the sole candidate from Delhi while Rajesh Bhandari, vice-president in the previous body, remains the only nominee from Himachal Pradesh. Thakur's earlier exclusion had led to litigation. The hearing is scheduled for August 18. The IOA, in a letter to the union sports ministry on July 30 had recommended that the interim committee be dissolved and the elections be held under the supervision of IOA or an independent authority nominated by the high court or the ministry. The tenure of the previous set of BFI office-bearers ended on February 2....