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"We are an organization ‘of’ and ‘for’ the community; now we will be ‘by’ the community,” said newly elected Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee Ervad Xerxes Dastur at the J. B. Vachha High School for Girls, Dadar where the results of the July 1, 2018 elections for trusteeship were announced late that evening. Voting had taken place between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. at five centers across Bombay on that day. Dastur secured 2,968 votes of the 6,018 total votes cast, defeating Anahita Desai, World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) chief executive officer and wife of BPP chairman Yazdi Desai, by a margin of 89 votes. Anahita secured 2,879 votes. Candidates Ratan Patel and Eric Dhatigara raked in 101 and 49 votes respectively whereas Kersi Sethna polled 19. Unofficial location wise votes cast were: Khareghat Colony 1,400; Dadar 1,273; Bharucha Baug 1,162; Rustom Baug 1,150; Cusrow Baug 840. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The election has come to an end but my commitment to serve the community starts today,” read a WhatsApp message from Dastur addressed to "my dear community members.” Requesting "everyone in the community to forget the past and…work jointly as one… towards a better and more prosperous community,” Dastur stated that his knowledge of politics is limited "and I wish to leave it that way. My promise to the community is to serve all.”
Much cheering from Dastur’s supporters accompanied election president Mahiyar Dastoor’s announcement of the results. While voting was scheduled to finish at 6 p.m., a few centers, notably Cusrow Baug had to extend the closure by up to 50 minutes due to a delayed start. Friends and supporters of the candidates had started assembling at the School by 7 p.m. News of Dastur’s win was circulating at the School even before Dastoor’s announcement. "It has not sunk in yet,” Dastur’s wife Meher told Parsiana about Xerxes’ victory before the results were formally announced. Process auditors Deloitte were waiting for reports from the five centers to come in and be verified. Dastur will attend his first meeting at the BPP on July 5, which his son Cyrus reminded him, will coincide with the lad’s roz birthday.
Loud cheers greeted the arrival of Rayomand Patell, Dastur’s campaign manager who is credited with creating the social media campaign "Wake up Parsi” videos providing endorsements for Dastur by prominent community members. WZO Trust Funds chairman Dinshaw Tamboly, holistic health guru Mickey Mehta, Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America vice president Arzan Wadia, among others endorsed Dastur in short 30-second videos. The loudest cheers at Dadar were reserved for ex BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta whose support to Dastur was visible at his public meetings and other fora.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Polling progress
Half an hour prior to the commencement of the scheduled voting at 10 a.m. there were around 50 people sitting patiently under the shamiana at Khareghat Colony, most of them senior citizens. Already on stand-by duty were the half dozen police personnel and the ambulance. Inside the Muncherji Khareghat Hall on the first floor, Yazdi Tantra’s On-lyne personnel under the supervision of the court commissioner and the auditors were demonstrating to the polling agents of the five candidates that the electronic voting machines were functioning accurately.
The voting finally commenced at 10.20. The first of the voters had come at 8 a.m. expecting voting to start at 9 a.m. Since she does not get the weeklies that carry Parsi news, the voter told Parsiana that she was not aware of the timings. With four rows of chairs and pedestal fans for the convenience of voters, the majority waited patiently except when they felt someone was trying to jump the queue. A young mother with an infant strapped to her chest, who came in later was specially made to sit at the start of the queue, everyone looking on indulgently.
The queue that had stretched to nearly 100 voters by then started moving fast once voting commenced thanks to the eight booths for the general voters on the first floor. The bottleneck was the enclosure for very senior citizens (above 70 years of age) shared with donors on the ground level. With several of them requiring wheelchair facilities, the narrow and uneven ramp made maneuvering difficult and slowed down the voting process. Within an hour though, the backlog had been cleared and for the rest of the day voters did not have to wait for more than five to 10 minutes to cast their precious vote. Tempers too seemed to be on even keel for most of the day barring one minor provocation in the morning when trustee Kersi Randeria sought to exchange a handshake with Mehta. Apparently Mehta chose to ignore him, making Randeria ask the Parsiana representative whether the episode should be recorded on video.  An agitated Mehta retorted, "Siplo né chaaplo thaich (he pretends to be over gracious) after (allegedly) telling me ‘I will destroy your whole family.’”
Due to the delayed start, the closing time was extended by 15 minutes but barring Mehta who voted in the last five minutes, despite being present on the premises from early morning, no one else came to vote at the nth hour. The candidates or their representatives present at the venue at closing time, along with BPP deputy chief executive officer Shehnaaz Khambatta and some other BPP officials, were invited to sit in for vote counting under the supervision of the court commissioner Mayank Rawal. The polling officer in charge at Khareghat Colony was Ruzbeh Sutaria. Having served as a polling officer at Bharucha Baug at the time of the last elections, he mentioned how officials involved in organizing the annual All Parsis Sports are selected by Dastoor for the different venues. Whilst active in community affairs, they are indifferent to politics and therefore seen as neutral by all candidates. With technological advances, for the current election they had one WhatsApp group linking Dastoor with all the polling officers and another wider group linking Dastoor, the polling officers and the polling agents of the five candidates.
At 9.30 a.m. the polling machines in the badminton court of the Cusrow Baug pavilion were being tested under the supervision of the court appointed administrator N. D. Narvekar. Polling officer Homiyar Madon told Parsiana that each machine was being retested, though on the previous day, all the equipment had been tested and sealed before being sent to the location. Teams from Deloitte, with the information technology teams were inputting test transactions for each candidate which were removed before the start of the voting. Candidate Eric Dhatigara, and representatives of other candidates were present. Three machines failed the tests as a result of which the location had only seven machines in use, six for general voters and one for the donor category. When voting started at 10.50 a.m., it was announced that there would be an extension of 50 minutes to the closing time. An elderly lady, who had reportedly come to the venue at 7 a.m., was among the first to vote. Despite the late start, there were only about 50 voters in queue by 11.30 a.m. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The center at Rustom Baug had thin attendance at 12:15 p.m. when the Parsiana representative visited that location. Voting had started only 10 minutes after the scheduled start. Polling officer Rustom Jasoomoney told us that by noon about 200 voters had exercised their votes.
The School hall at Dadar, where Darius Zaiwala was the polling officer wore a deserted look at 12.30 p.m., with no voters lined up. Former BPP trustee Arnavaz Mistry and her daughter Yasmin, and Anahita supporter Tannaz Parakh were present at 1 p.m. Late in the night on June 30, Bombay High Court Justice Shahrukh Kathawalla had passed an order instructing the Mistrys and co-trustees of The Young Rathestars, their representatives, volunteers and helpers attending to the poor Parsis on July 1 at the Dadar Athornan Institute hall not to ask for any of the applicants/poor Parsis to produce their registration certificate/ID proof required for the purpose of casting their vote for the election of the trustees of the BPP. They were also required not to suggest or direct them to vote for any candidate contesting the trusteeship elections. The group was to distribute forms to the poor on voting day.
At Sir Shapurji Bharucha Baug in Andheri where voting had begun after a 15-minute delay, Anahita was seen welcoming visitors and helping the elderly into the voting center where Homi Ustad functioned as the polling officer. Yazdi Desai was seen with Sam Chothia, vice president of West Zone B of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India. Reportedly 100 voters had come to Bombay from the South Gujarat town of Valsad. 
With the elections over and the results declared, it was time for the basics. As noted Dastur in his message to the community, "It’s now time to get down to business and work as one.”