9,825 voters choose five new trustees for Parsi Punchayet

Following the voting that went on till late evening on Sunday, the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) announced the names of the five newly elected trustees. Viraf Mehta, Noshir Dadrawala, Yazdi Desai, Kersi Randeria and Zarir Bhathena were elected from the 23 candidates that contested for the post.

The elections were held because five trustees had competed their term — the regular term of office for a sitting trustee is seven years.

A total of 9,825 votes were cast before the booths shut down, giving way to the commencement of the counting process. The BPP made every effort to make people come and vote at the five polling stations. In fact, minibus shuttles were used to ferry elderly voters to the Parsi colonies.

Several voters termed the election as first-of-its-kind due to the fact that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were used for the first time for elections conducted by any trust.

The BPP is an over three centuries old public charitable trust and is one of the largest landlords in the city with around 5,500 flats and other immovable properties of about 100 acres. Several voters hoped that issues such as transparency, housing and attentiveness to community needs will be on the priority list of the new team.

Published on Free Press Journal