Byculla CA wins Bombay Parsi Punchayet election
MUMBAI: Xerxes Dastur, a chartered accountant from Byculla was appointed as a trustee in the seven-member board of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), replacing Muncherji Cama, chairman of the business group which runs a Gujarati daily.
Dastur was contesting the elections against four other candidates – Anahita Desai, the wife of BPP chairperson Yazdi Desai, Ratan Patel, Kersi Sethna and Eric Dhatigara.
“It’s great to win and be here for my community. I look forward to working with the board,” said Dastur.
BPP is the custodian of Parsi properties in the city and is one of the biggest land-owners in Mumbai. It is also the largest representative body of the community.
Dastur won by a margin of 89 votes against Desai in the election conducted on Sunday. Out of around 25,000 people who were eligible to vote, only 6,018 people cast their ballot.
A day before the elections, Dastur had approached the Bombay high court for an urgent hearing against an advertisement published in a regional paper, asking economically-weaker Parsis to collect forms for free rations from the Dadar Madressa Hall, which is close to the Dadar voting centre. Justice Shahrukh Kathawalla passed an order on Saturday night instructing the Young Ratheshtas Foundation, which had made the announcement, to go ahead with the drive, but not to ask people to produce any ID proof or direct them to vote for any candidate.