We have not sacked them. It's a misconception being spread.
After three years without a unified mandate from its membership, the Equestrian Federation of India stands at a rare threshold — its first elections conducted in full compliance with the National Sports Code. The federation has rewritten its constitution, trimmed its governing body, and extended new protections for athletes, all in an effort to align with the standards India's sports institutions are meant to uphold. Yet the moment of reform is shadowed by legal challenges, as those who question the process seek to delay what others call long overdue. In the larger story of sports governance, this is a familiar tension: the machinery of accountability arriving late, and not without resistance.
- A federation that went three years without proper elections — and years more under a piecemeal system that never produced a unified governing mandate — is now racing to correct course before legal challenges freeze the process entirely.
- The Rajasthan Equestrian Association has filed petitions in Delhi High Court seeking to block the elections and replace the executive with an ad-hoc committee, claiming the constitutional amendments were procedurally improper.
- The federation's secretary-general has pushed back, pointing out that the petitioning party was present and outvoted at the very meeting where the amendments were approved, calling the legal challenge difficult to comprehend.
- The executive committee has shrunk dramatically — from 19 active members to just three — not through expulsion, the federation insists, but through term completions, resignations, and the abolition of regional appointment seats.
- Elections are now scheduled under a restructured framework that reduces voting power for clubs, removes it from individuals, mandates athlete representation, and bars officials from holding simultaneous posts across multiple federations.
The Equestrian Federation of India is preparing to hold its first proper elections in three years — a milestone that required rewriting its constitution and shrinking its executive committee from 21 members to 12. The change was demanded by the National Sports Code, which governs how India's national sports federations must operate, and which the EFI had long failed to follow.
The federation's electoral history was unusual. Since 2019, no general ballot had taken place. Before that, individual posts were elected separately and at different times, meaning the full executive body never faced a unified mandate from its membership. The Sports Code requires the opposite: a single election every four years choosing the entire slate of officers together.
The constitutional overhaul moved quickly once it began. In March, amendments were put to the annual general meeting and passed 111 to 8. Member clubs were reduced to one vote each; individual members lost voting rights entirely. New rules require that at least a quarter of the executive committee be prominent athletes, bar officials from holding posts in multiple federations simultaneously, and introduce provisions on age fraud, sexual harassment, and financial oversight.
The path forward, however, is contested. The Rajasthan Equestrian Association filed petitions in Delhi High Court seeking to block the elections and install an ad-hoc committee, alleging procedural violations in the amendment process. Secretary-General Colonel Jaiveer Singh, elected in 2019, responded sharply — noting that the Rajasthan representative had been present at the March meeting when the changes were approved.
Singh has framed himself as the reformer correcting years of drift, deflecting questions about earlier non-compliance to his predecessors and citing the pandemic as a further delay. He also pushed back on the perception that the executive committee had been gutted: the reduction from 19 to 3 active members, he said, reflects completed terms, resignations, and the abolition of regional appointment seats — not expulsions.
Whether the courts allow the elections to proceed, and whether the membership accepts the new framework, will determine whether this moment of institutional reckoning holds.
The Equestrian Federation of India is preparing to hold elections for the first time in three years, a milestone that comes wrapped in constitutional overhaul and legal challenge. The federation's governing body has been trimmed from 21 members to 12, a restructuring demanded by the National Sports Code—the rulebook that governs how India's national sports federations must operate. Until now, the EFI had ignored these requirements almost entirely.
The federation's history with elections is peculiar. Since 2019, it held no general ballot at all. Before that, it operated under what officials now acknowledge was a broken system: individual posts were elected separately, at different times, with members cycling through four-year tenures and then being replaced piecemeal. This meant the full executive body was never elected together, never faced a unified mandate from the membership. The Sports Code, by contrast, is explicit. It requires a general body meeting at least once yearly and a special election every four years to choose the entire executive slate—president, secretary, and all other officers—as a single body.
The changes came fast once they came at all. In March, the EFI presented constitutional amendments to its annual general meeting. The vote was lopsided: 111 members in favor, eight opposed. The federation then won renewal of its national sports federation status in April, and the Sports Ministry granted it until June to complete the compliance work. The amendments themselves are sweeping. Member clubs now have one vote instead of two. Individual members lost voting rights altogether. The federation added a requirement that at least a quarter of the executive committee consist of prominent athletes. It also adopted a rule preventing anyone from holding office in multiple national sports federations simultaneously. New provisions address age fraud, sexual harassment, and financial oversight.
Yet the path forward is contested. The Rajasthan Equestrian Association filed a petition in Delhi High Court seeking to block the elections and install an ad-hoc committee to run the federation instead, arguing that the amendment process was procedurally flawed. A second petition claims the same. Colonel Jaiveer Singh, the federation's secretary-general, pushed back sharply. He noted that the petitioner from Rajasthan was present at the March 27 meeting when the changes were approved. "I fail to understand why have they moved this application when we have already carried out the required changes," Singh said.
Singh, elected to his post in 2019, has positioned himself as the reformer tasked with cleaning up a federation that drifted for years. When asked why the EFI had not aligned with the Sports Code sooner, he deflected to his predecessors. "Don't ask me why EFI statutes were not changed to fall in line with Sports Code earlier. You have to ask people who held positions before me," he said, adding that the coronavirus pandemic had delayed the process. He emphasized that the executive committee had discussed the amendments before presenting them to the general body, following what he called a transparent procedure.
The reduction in executive committee size has created some confusion. The body currently has only three members—down from 19 before the changes. The federation insists this is not expulsion but rather the natural consequence of term limits and rule changes. Eight members had completed their four-year tenures. Three others had resigned. Two had relocated out of Delhi. The remaining members—who had been appointed as regional representatives—no longer fit the new structure, which abolished regional appointments to keep the committee lean. Singh stressed the distinction: "We have not sacked them. It's a misconception being spread."
The federation now moves toward elections under a new framework, one that aligns it with how India's sports governance is supposed to work. Whether the courts will allow those elections to proceed, and whether the membership will accept the new rules, remains to be seen.
Citas Notables
We are committed to implement the changes that are required as per the Sports Code. I got elected in 2019 as Secretary General and since then I am trying to bring about reforms.— Colonel Jaiveer Singh, EFI Secretary-General
I fail to understand why have they moved this application when we have already carried out the required changes.— Colonel Jaiveer Singh, responding to legal challenge
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did it take the EFI three years to hold an election?
The federation had a system where individual posts were elected separately, at different times. So technically they were holding elections—just not all together. It wasn't that they forgot; it was that the structure itself was broken.
And nobody noticed this violated the Sports Code?
The Sports Code was clear about what was required. The EFI just didn't follow it. Singh, the current secretary-general, says that's on his predecessors. He's trying to fix it now.
But there's a lawsuit trying to stop the elections. What's that about?
The Rajasthan Equestrian Association is arguing the amendments weren't done properly. But Singh points out that the petitioner was actually at the meeting where the changes were approved. It feels like a power play dressed up as procedure.
What changed in the constitution?
The executive committee got smaller—from 21 to 12. Voting rights shifted. Clubs lost half their votes. Individual members lost voting rights entirely. And now at least a quarter of the leadership has to be actual athletes, not just administrators.
Did people get fired?
The federation says no. Some terms ended. Some people resigned. Some moved away. The regional appointments that used to exist were abolished. But Singh is adamant they didn't expel anyone.
So what happens next?
The elections are supposed to happen. But the courts have to decide whether to let them go forward. The federation is betting that the legal challenges don't stick.