In continuation of our post ' Voters List' on July 2008 , we are reproducing today copy of a complaint filed by a member regarding inclusion of non-boafide members in the voters list.
The complaint , filed on July 12 , 2008 , had urged the president to take immediate suitable steps before the start of nomination process on Monday , July 14, 2008.
We have come to know that in order to hide its failure to prepare a genuine voters list before the election notification , the 'outgoing' Managing Committee is giving final touches to a 'rectified' voters list that may bring down the total number of voters by about one hundred.
We shall come out with our opinion and possible actions after this 'rectified' voters list is given to us. We have , however, proved that there is a definite case of serious legal impropriety involved in holding the elections.
July 12, 2008
Mr Pradeep Vijaykar
The President,
The Press Club,
Mumbai
Sub: Final voters’ lists for 2008 Press Club polls
Dear Mr Vijaykar,
I would like to inform you that I obtained a copy of the final voters list for the Club’s 2008 polls, scheduled for July 26,2008, from the Club administration a couple of days back after paying the requisite fee of Rs 25. Having gone through the final voters’ list for the club’s 2008 polls, I have a very strong reason to believe that a large number of ineligible members have made it into the final voters’ list.
You will agree, we can not expect to have free and fair Press Club polls, with so many ineligible voters on the final electoral rolls.
Under the circumstances, I would request you to clarify the following:
1) Do all the voters listed in the final voters’ list fulfill the criterion stipulated under Article 5* of the Club’s by-laws?
(*Article 5 of the by-laws of the Press Club makes it abundantly clear that ordinary members shall have voting rights only one year after having been a part of the press club).
2) Have the names of all such members, who are no longer in the journalistic profession and are ineligible to continue as ordinary members of the club, been weeded out from the final electoral rolls?
3) Has the Club’s membership review committee, headed by Mr Sunil Shivdasani, gone through and cleared the final voters’ list before it was put up on the notice board?
4) I would like to know as to how the name of one particular member (membership No 721) who was reportedly suspended by the Managing Committee (MC) itself till October 2008, figures in the final list of voters?
Without going into the merit of the suspension of the said member, I would like to stress in this context that the outgoing MC has been rather casual in preparing the “final” voters’ list?
You will recall that I had in the first week of May, 2008, personally handed over to you a copy of my letter addressed to the Club manager about the constitutional impropriety in preparing and displaying the draft voters’ list by the outgoing MC.
Considering that the notification for the Press Club elections has already been issued, I look forward to receiving clarifications to my above specific queries from your end before the start of the start of the poll process on July 14, 2008?
Simultaneously, I request you to exercise your powers as the president of the club to give necessary directions to Mr Jatin Desai, the Poll Returning Officer appointed by the ‘outgoing’ MC, to take all necessary steps to weed out all the ineligible members from the final list of voters.
At the same time, I also request you to ensure that the “outgoing” MC adheres to the poll code of conduct. I am making this request in the light of the fact that “outgoing” Secretary Gurbir Singh has not stopped from making policy announcements even after the notification of the poll schedule.
Thanking you and looking forward to a swift response from your end.
Yours truly,
CPJha
Membership No
Cc: Mr Jatin Desai
Returning Officer (2008 –Press Club polls)
The Press Club,
Mumbai
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