Xerxes gave out cash for votes, alleges his BPP election opponent

Yezdi and Anahita Desai; (right) Xerxes Dastur

A fortnight after Xerxes Dastur won the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) election to become its new trustee, his election rival Anahita Desai - who lost by 89 votes - has alleged he violated the election code of conduct by 'distributing cash' to weaker sections of the Parsi community to gain votes.

Corrupt practice
Anahita made these allegations in a letter to the BPP chairman, her husband Yezdi Desai, and other trustees on Monday evening. She said in the letter, "It has come to my knowledge that Xerxes Dastur has distributed cash directly and indirectly to weaker sections of our community in exchange for their votes in the recently concluded BPP elections. Also, he has violated the election code of conduct that he had signed."

"I will be filing an application in the appropriate court/forum for cancelling his election. Accordingly, I request you not to allow Xerxes Dastur to participate in the board proceedings, because it will cause irreparable damage to me, as I've received the second highest number of votes. I sincerely hope you all will do justice to me and to the community and save the BPP's reputation from being damaged." Xerxes's first board meeting is supposed to happen on Tuesday.

'Gundagiri can't happen'
Anahita told mid-day, "Me and my husband feel that this type of gundagiri and muscle and money power which they [Dastur and the ones campaigning for him] have can't always happen during election time. Enough is enough; the code of conduct was blatantly breached and there is no regard for ethics. There is a limit to how much can be tolerated." Yezdi said, "The board will now have to make a decision."

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