The elections for all the seven posts of the Bombay Parsee Punchayet would be held on May 29, 2022 and it would be the first organisation representing religious community to use the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and the VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Trail) system in the elections. This comes after the Bombay High Court approved the amended Code of Conduct for the elections of the community's organisation.
A bench of Justices Shahrukh Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav was seized with a bunch of petitions filed by the trustees, separately, both in favor and against the newly amended code for holding the elections.
Notably, the trustees had initially moved the HC in March 2021 seeking permissions for holding elections for the two vacant seats. However, due to the second wave of the Covid19 pandemic, the elections weren't allowed in view of the state government protocol.
Subsequently, the trustees agreed to hold elections for all the seven posts of the trust which represents around 41,000 members of the Parsi community across India.
On a hearing held on March 1, advocate Firoz Bharucha, representing the majority trustees, insisted that the
election schedule may be fixed only after June 5 or 6, 2022. He pointed out that many voters would be on vacation during the month of May 2022.
However, advocate Karl Tamboly, appearing for the minority trustees opposed this request. He pointed out that the elections should be held prior to the arrival of monsoons.
Taking note of the submission, the judges noted that there is a likelihood of heavy rainfall in the first week of June and that this may affect voter turnout on the scheduled date of election.
"The possible impact of monsoons would affect a significantly higher number of the electorate compared to the electorate who would be on vacation during the month of May 2022," the bench opined, further pointing out that the elections could be scheduled on the last Sunday in the month of May.
"This, in anticipation that most of the electorate on vacation would also return in the meantime," the bench said, adding, "This Court would also like to point out that on several occasions, even the State as well as National elections have been held in the month of May and therefore, the suggestion made by advocate Bharucha is not reasonable."
Accordingly, the judge declared the elections to be held on May 29 and the results of the polls be announced on the subsequent day.
By May 31, 2022, the bench said the new trustees must resume office.
