Community to elect 2,000

On the heels of the Bombay High Court order approving the change in the election scheme of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) to two elected members for every donor member of the Anjuman Committee (AC), elections for this segment of the electoral college will probably be held in January 2006. BPP chairman Minoo Shroff notes that the Punchayet staff is already working on the massive, constituency-wise exercise. It is learnt that the Punchayet will issue a notification informing the community of the date in November 2005 by which they must register themselves on the general register to qualify to vote.

After the court approves the fully reworked scheme, incorpo­rating the changes accepted by the judge on April 1, 2005, it will name the date of changeover which will be subsequently announced by the BPP. Until then donors of Rs 15,000 will contin­ue to earn the right to direct membership of the AC, notes BPP trustee Dinshaw Mehta. The minimum donation qualifying the donor for AC membership has been raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000. Parsiana learns that an advertisement in the Parsi Press will set the date, allowing one month for the changeover.

Considering that there are now over 1,000 donors on the donor register, the elected segment will number more than 2,000 members. The question now is, will there be enough candidates to provide the community adequate choice of representatives? wonders Mehta. If not, a slate of the required number may be elected unopposed.

BPP stalwart Sheroo Master who retired as senior executive on March 31 this year, will help coordinate the massive exercise in a consultative capacity. Master is perhaps the only senior BPP staffer available with the requisite experience gleaned in the AC elections of 1993. That was when constituency wise elections were held for the first time under the overall direction of then BPP chief executive the late Rustom Ankle-saria, officer of the Indian Administrative Service and former municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad.

At these elections of 1993 and earlier in 1980, the CER (Committee for Electoral Rights, subsequently renamed the Commit­tee for Economic Revival) had actively pursued the goal of in­ducting like-minded liberal members in the AC, and consequently, on the BPP board of trustees. However, the community’s political kaleidoscope now displays a different pattern. The CER’s most proficient organizer, BPP trustee Mehta says the CER has no role to play in the forthcoming event.

With religious issues now to the fore for political reasons, Mehta has been increasingly playing the orthodox card. It is conceivable that his behind-the-scenes organizational wizardry may benefit the orthodox camp led by Khojeste Mistree. Mistree being out of the country was not available for comment, but second in command Yazdi Desai told Parsiana in a brief telephone interview, that while they didn’t know when the forms will be issued, they will definitely seek community support for their candidates, though no definite policy has been formulated so far. Desai has been in the forefront of the legal battle with the developer and trustees of the Lalbaug Agiary.

"I am not getting into this exercise,” declares BPP trustee Dinshaw Tamboly when Parsi-ana enquired about his plans vis-à-vis the AC elections. As a sitting trustee he feels it would not be right for him to be involved in the jockeying for AC membership.

The other major player on the community scene, the Alert Zoroastrians Association (AZA) is happy to "encourage people to think and exercise their right. Any bawaji is OK,” says spokes­person Kersi Randeria.

Arnavaz S. Mama