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To give all 17 Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship candidates a fair and equitable platform to express their views on issues confronting the community in Bombay, Parsiana had sent them a questionnaire in the first week of April 2022 requesting them to revert within 10 days. Ahead of the trusteeship elections on May 29, their views were sought on transparency and accountability to the community, demographics and housing, dakhmenashini and alternate modes of disposing of the dead, according equal religious privileges to women, the usefulness of The Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India…
Candidates were at liberty to explain the rationale for the answer selected by them. Responses were received from 15 aspirants; one did not respond as he was hospitalized and another was considering whether to contest or withdraw. The answers have been tabulated for the convenience of readers (see pages 19, 20, 21), the clarifications have been carried subsequently (see pages 22, 24-27). To the question "How would you augment the BPP’s finances?” we had offered multiple choices: auction flats, levy service charges, sell property, build ownership flats and sell them, other (specify). Since the candidates appeared to favor more than one solution, their responses have been included in "Clarifications by candidates.” 
BPP chairwoman Armaity Tirandaz, trustee Viraf Mehta and candidate Rumy Zarir specifically instructed us that unless all their clarifications are carried we should desist from printing their responses. Candidate Anahita Desai too impressed on us the need to include her detailed reasoning and candidate Dr Zuleika Homavazir specified that should we make any change it was necessary to notify her in advance. When carrying the clarifications issued by the candidates we have restricted our editing to stylistic corrections unless necessitated on account of brevity and uniformity. We have however ensured that we have not altered the sentiments expressed by each candidate. While we have taken every care to prevent errors in the presentation of data, we regret in advance should any inadvertent mistake have crept in.
Responses from the aspirants have been alphabetically presented and tabulated. Aligned on one side are three current trustees Tirandaz, Mehta and Ervad Xerxes Dastur along with first-timers Maharukh Noble and Zarir. Siding with current trustee Kersi Randeria are Hoshang Jal, Dr Adil Malia, Daara Patel and Ervad Farhad Hozdar. The candidates who have proclaimed they are independent are Desai, Tehmtan Dumasia, Homavazir, Farhanaz Irani and Kaikhushroo Irani. We did not receive a response from Yasmin Mistry who stated that she was deliberating on whether to withdraw her nomination and Adil Irani who informed us he was hospitalized. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is May 8.
 "Will you insist the board of trustees hold annual meetings with the community?” was the first of the 20 queries posed by Parsiana. "Yes,” said all the 15 who responded to the questionnaire. The same question had also been included in the Parsiana questionnaire in 2015 when five seats were being contested. At that time too all 20 candidates who responded, declared they would hold annual meetings. Not a single meeting has been convened with the electorate in the interim period.
From the current contestants, six had stood for elections in 2015 too. While Randeria and Mehta had emerged winners then, Dastur won the election in 2018. These three trustees along with Dumasia, Homavazir and Patel have offered themselves for elections yet again for the seven seats that will be vacated.
Barring Randeria, the other five had responded to our questionnaire in 2015 as well. All five were in favor of constructing more housing for the community in 2015 and also in 2022. When asked whether they supported converting leave and license agreements into tenancies, Dastur, Homavazir and Mehta responded with a "yes” in 2015 and 2022, Dumasia said "no” on both occasions, and Patel who initially said yes has now responded with a "maybe.”
The responses to the 2022 questionnaire indicate that most of the candidates have chosen to toe the orthodox line. Only Kaikhushroo Irani who is married to a non-Parsi maintained that children of Parsi women married to non Parsis should be considered Parsis. Dumasia and Patel were non-committal and Randeria did not respond to this question. The remaining 11 responded with an emphatic "no” or specified that the high priests should be consulted. Non Parsis should not be allowed to view the face of the deceased after the geh sarna at Doongerwadi or unless permitted by the high priests, maintained all the candidates barring Randeria who did not respond to this question.
 Orthodox mouthpiece, The Parsee Voice (TPV), also issued a questionnaire to the candidates on April 24 or so to ascertain their conservative leanings. While the Parsiana questionnaire mainly sought to understand the views of the candidates on issues that would impact the functioning of the Punchayet, TPV questionnaire started with asking candidates for their names as also those of their parents, spouse, children, enquiring whether any of them are intermarried. The orthodox online periodical further sought a response from candidates to queries like "Do you accept that both, Parsi men and women, who have intermarried, cannot be considered as Parsis and forfeit the right to all benefits that arise from being a Parsi?” and "Do you accept that dakhmenashini is the only method of disposal of the dead for us Parsis and that cremation and burial are anti-Zoroastrian practices and should not be permitted?”
Reports on the canvasing activities by candidates through campaign meetings, door-to-door visits, distribution of manifestoes will be carried in our May 21-June 6, 2022 issue of Parsiana.