CAPITAL punishment

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but whether you write it in capital letters or not may make a difference. So discovered 11 residents of Godrej Baug who submitted their nomination forms for the Godrej Baug Residents Welfare Association (GBRWA) elections. The forms specified "Please fill in the correct details in capital and eligible (sic) handwriting and submit the form to the Election Commission. Forms with overwriting and cancellation will be rejected.” Of the 17 contestants 11 found their nominations disqualified reportedly on account of using upper-lower-case alphabets.

"Some of us did not use capital letters and wrote Life members (in small letters) instead of LIFE (in capitals) and our forms were rejected on these technical grounds. The Election Commission however chose to ignore that the word eligible was printed instead of legible changing the meaning of the sentence. The Election Commission decided to focus only on the use of capital letters instead. Is this fair? Is this a government form that we are completing? Can these minor mistakes not be overlooked? Is this an example of encouraging people to work for the baug?” wrote eight of the disgruntled candidates Tehmtan Duma­sia, Shernaz Dumasia, Lily Moti­walla, Shernaz Sukheshwala, Nergish Majra, Minoo Majra, Nilufer Nasirabad­wala and Beh­roze Mistry in an undated circular to the residents of Godrej Baug.

In a letter dated June 20, 2008 to the GBRWA chief election commissioner, the eight plus Neville Majra stated, "We are shocked and surprised that the announcement of the final candidates to stand for election are shown as already elected members for the year 2008-2010 as per your notice dated June 20, 2008.” They alleged a bias by two members of the Election Commission. No elections were held as only six contestants qualified for the 11 seats.

File photo of Godrej Baug

The chief election commissioner Rustom Nargolwala when asked by Parsiana over the phone on July 2, 2008 to comment on the controversy, first said he would like to personally meet the magazine representative as he did not wish to speak to someone he did not know over the phone and then added, "I am not supposed to divulge the information.” Of the three-member election commission comprising Nargolwala, Kersi Sanjana and Pervez Gadiwalla, Gadi­walla reportedly resigned from office over the ruling. When contacted about the issue he said it would be "preferable not” to talk about the subject to avoid further controversy. But in a letter addressed to Nargolwala dated June 19, 2008, Gadiwalla stated his grievances: "This is to bring to your kind attention that I have been officiating as an Election Commissioner for Godrej Baug Elections for the past many years, but till date there have been no issues while conducting the Elections in a fair and peaceful manner… I pointed out that as till date no guidelines have been issued to us in writing or even an appointment letter has not been issued to us, which I considered as a technical error. But since I did not want to make an issue out of it I asked you to consider the scrutiny of the forms with similar errors as part of the election process. But you refused to listen and under protest I signed the final list of candidates.

"I also would like to keep on record the events that took place at your residence today morning. I drew your attention to the Para and initially you were also of the opinion that it made sense not to go into too many technicalities, and immediately called the other commissioner Mr Kersi Sanjana to discuss the same. During the discussions we telephoned Mr (Urvax) Dhanda, Mr Jasi Pardiwalla and Mr Farhad Hozdar for their views and clarifications on the same (on speaker phone). Mutually it was decided and a letter was drafted asking that the secretary should call for an Emergency Committee Meeting and discuss the clarification of the Para.

"In the evening when I called up to inquire with you as to whether the letter was sent to the Secretary, you blatantly told me that you were taking a unilateral decision along with Mr Sanjana, not to forward the letter and would put on board my presigned letter (signed under protest). When I asked you to remove my signature you flatly refused to do so and threatened me to do whatever I could as you had Mr Sanjana with you on this decision.

"This I feel is blatant misuse of trust and power, as you think that being a Chairman of The Election Commission you can take unilateral decisions against the interests of the Baug, and its residents. Hence I feel that I should tender my resignation if my voice is not considered to be heard.

"Also in future I would advise the Managing Committee to select persons on the Election Commission who can take an unbiased decision in the interests of the Baug.”

Sanjana said the forms were issued by the Committee Members and the Election Commission decided "Ké aie vakhat jaraa strict thavoo joié (this time we should be strict).” There was no other motive, he added.

In an open letter dated June 29, 2008 to Godrej Baug residents, resident Arzan Ghadially while castigating the complaining contestants hoped "common sense prevails upon these signatories and (they) accept defeat gracefully (and) join hands and strengthen the Association instead of crying over spilt milk.”

A call by the eight to raise the election issue at the GBRWA Annual General Meeting on Sunday, June 29, was turned down on the grounds that it was "not on the agenda,” stated Tehmtan Dumasia to Parsiana on July 2, 2008. He added that several members present requested the matter be resolved internally. "Don’t go to court,” was the chorus, he said.

The newly elected office bearers are Raymond Bharucha, Shahrukh Bilimo­ria, Urvax Dhanda, Farhad Hozdar, Jimmy Panthaki and Yezdi Panthaki of whom Dhanda is the president. The committee numbers 11 but as only six qualified for office, five members of their choosing will be co-opted. When asked about the election controversy on July 2, Dhanda stated that the committee "never interfered” with the functioning of the Election Commission. "In any election one has to abide by the rules and regulations.” The disqualified candidates are calling for an extra-ordinary general meeting of the GBRWA to discuss the controversy.

When asked his plans for the GBRWA, Dhanda states a sports pavilion in Godrej Baug was a priority. He noted the other baugs had one. They have approached the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and matters were on the "verge” of coming up. Dhanda has served four years and this will be his third term in office as president. He stated there are 494 flats in Godrej Baug and assumed that there must be around 1,800 residents. The GBRWA has around 900 to 1,000 members of which around 250 to 300 vote in the elections. Membership dues are Rs 100 per individual per year or Rs 1,500 for life.

Dumasia, a former president of the GBRWA who states he has served on the body since its founding intends to contest for trusteeship of the BPP. This time he’ll make sure his form is filled as required so he can be ‘eligible’ to stand.