THE ELECTION TRIBUNAL ORDER -1
13 Apr-2006

Friday, April 13, 2006



ORDER OF THE ELECTION TRIBUNAL,
INDIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS.


1. This Tribunal was appointed by the General Body of the Indian Association of Physiotherapists (IAP) held at Hyderabad Feb 2004, to decide all disputes related to the IAP election for the year 2006-2008. At the same meeting, Dr. A.K. Bhatnagar was appointed as the Election Officer and he appointed Dr. Raghunandan Kumar and Dr. A.K. Biswas as the Assistant Election Officers, as comprising the Election Committee.


2. By a notice dated 6.12.2005, the Election Officer notified the election schedule and called for nominations for the posts of President, Vice-President, General Secretary and Treasurer and 5 posts of Members of the Central Executive Committee. The last date for receipt of ballot papers by the Election Officer was fixed as 21.3.2006 and the counting was to be held on 26.3.2006.


3. However, in the meantime, the Tribunal has received several complaints regarding the elections and by an order dated 6.3.2006, the Tribunal directed the Election Officer to withhold counting of votes for all the posts. The Tribunal has now considered the various complaints and the explanations given by the concerned parties, which are dealt with in this order.

A. Complaint dated 22.2.06 by N. Venkatesh (L 3254) and Complaint dated 24.2.06 by Chintu Philip (L 11304)


4. These complaints concerned an election manifesto circulated by Dr. K. Kumar (L 13313) and Dr. K. Kasiraj (L 7701), who are candidates for the posts of General Secretary and Vice President respectively. The pamphlet circulated by the candidates contained the following “Note”:-

“In case the member is not available, this votes can poll by their parents/guardian.”


5. Upon an explanation being sought by the Tribunal, Dr. K. Kumar has stated, by a letter dated 15.3.2006, that it is a printing mistake and the word “can” should read “can’t”. We are doubtful about the validity of this explanation as there was no occasion/necessity to add a note if the votes cannot be polled by any other person. In view of the fact that the poll is conducted by postal ballot, we feel that the note printed in the candidate’s election pamphlet is misleading and irresponsible. However, in view of the regret expressed by Dr. K. Kumar and his assurance that such a thing will not happen in the future, the Tribunal is restraining itself from taking any further action.


B. Complaint of A.K. Saxena:


6. Dr. A.K. Saxena’s complaint is that his nomination for the post of Vice President was rejected by the Election Officer on the incorrect ground that the proposer who had signed his nomination paper was not on the electoral roll of IAP. On scrutiny of the complaint, the Tribunal found that the proposer, Dr. Ramesh Chand Sharma was issued a certificate showing that he is a life member of IAP, having number L 3475 ; and signed by the then secretary Dr. Kishore Vairagade. Whereas in the register of members maintained by the Association, that number belongs to Dr. C. Sankar Kumar. However, Dr. Ramesh Chand Sharma’s name does appear in the electoral roll at No. A 3468. In view of this, as the discrepancy appears to be on account of the Association, we hold that Dr. A.K.Saxena’s nomination should be accepted.


7. We may mention that the Tribunal had written a letter dated 19.2.2006 to Dr. Saxena regretting the discrepancy, in the hope that Dr. Saxena would not insist upon a fresh election. However, the Tribunal has received a letter dated 24.2.2006 from Dr. Saxena stating that he has suffered financial strain, mental agony, defamation and has lost his fundamental right to contest the election. He has asked the Tribunal to award compensation to him for the mistake committed by the Institution. It is not within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to award compensation so we are not entering into this question at all. However, Dr. Saxena is entitled to have his nomination accepted and stand for the post of Vice President. As he has chosen not to accept the apology tendered by the Tribunal on behalf of the Association, we think the only course open to us is to direct that his nomination should be accepted and included in the fresh ballot paper for the post of Vice President, along with the others whose nominations were accepted.


C. Complaint of Dr. Saurabh Bhargava (L 7680) dated 28.2.2006 and 9.3.2006


8. Dr Saurabh Bhargava, who had filed nomination for election as a member of the Central Executive Committee has complained that in the ballot paper at Sr. No.3 his name has been wrongly printed as “Shubash Bhargava” instead of “Saurabh Bhargava”. Further, his qualifications in the bio-data booklet circulated by the Election Officer has been printed as “Diploma in Hotel Administration” instead of “Diploma in Hospital Administration”. The Election Officer, by e-mail dated 4.3.2006, has admitted that some mistake has occurred due to human error,. We find that the two mistakes pointed out by Dr. Saurabh Bhargava are of a serious nature and required to be remedied. Consequently, we direct that his bio-data should circulated again with the correction made, and a fresh ballot for the post of CEC members would be required to address his complaint.


D. Complaints regarding editing of the Bio-data and election manifesto:


9. Several complaints have been received regarding the editing of the bio-data and election manifestos of the candidates by the Election Committee. The following complaints have been received, which refer to this ground:

1. Dr. Deepak Kumar dated 2.3.2006
2. Dr. B.S. Desikamani dated 3.3.2006
3. Dr. S. Prabhu dated 5.3.2006
4. Dr. Savita Ravindra dated 5.3.2006
5. Dr. Uma Shankar Mohanty dated 5.3.2006
6. Dr. Urmila Kamat


10. The election procedure contained in the Memorandum and Articles of the Association provide that ballot papers will be sent together with bio-data of each candidate. The Election Officer while calling for nomination for the elections by his letter dated 6.12.2005, addressed to all members, had required the contestant to send the nomination form “along with his or her brief bio-data and election manifesto (150-200 words only, be precise)”. The complaint of several members is that there has been selective editing of the bio-data sent by them. Certain crucial information regarding the present affiliation of the candidate, the degrees, place of education, work done by the candidates. etc. has been omitted.


11. The Tribunal requested the Election Officer to inform them why it was thought necessary to edit the bio-data submitted by the candidates if they were within the 150-200 word limit, and also whether there was any prior criterion adopted by the Committee for the editing. The Election Officer by an e-mail message dated 4.3.2006 informed the Tribunal that most of the bio-datas and manifestos exceeded the word limit of 150-200 words and that the following criterion were decided to edit the bio-data and manifesto:


“Name, year of passing, experience and achievements not exceeding the prescribed words”.

12. In view of the fact that several complaints have been received on this ground, the Tribunal requested the Election Officer to send all the bio-data which had been submitted by the candidates and also the printed bio-datas which had been circulated by the Election Officer. From the examination of these materials, we have found that in case of several candidates (for example Ali Irani, Dinesh Sharma, R.Kasiraj, Ravi Chandran) the bio-data were edited by the Election Committee despite the fact that the material was within the prescribed word limit. Similarly, there does not appear to have been any uniform criterion applied in editing of the bio-data and manifestos. In several cases, extremely important information like the educational qualifications held, the names of universities where they studied, the institution where they are currently working and the posts held in the past in IAP have been deleted. In our view, the Election Officer was certainly within his powers to set a limit on the length of the bio-data to be submitted by the candidates. It is unfortunate that the candidates did not adhere to the word limits in several cases. However, they were not warned in advance as to the consequences of exceeding the word limit and we think there is some justification in the complaint that the criteria for editing were not uniformly applied. In our view, it is evident that any election held on the basis of bio-data as circulated will remain under a cloud of doubt as to fairness and impartiality. In order to maintain full transparency, the candidates whose nominations have been accepted should be asked once again to submit their bio-data within the word limit fixed by the Election Officer. The Election Officer may request all candidates to submit bio-data by 5th May through e-mail and send a copy by registered post. It should be clearly mentioned that if any bio-data exceeds the word limit, then the entire matter which is in excess of the word limit will not be printed. If this procedure is adopted, it will aid transparency and will also place fewer burdens upon the Election Committee. We are conscious that the consequence of this direction would be that fresh ballot papers will also have to be printed and circulated, and the polling has to be conducted again. However, we are placing emphasis on this provision because the Memorandum and Articles of Association of IAP mandate bio-data to be circulated with the ballot papers. This is intended to enable the voters to exercise an informed and educated choice, and we feel that the entire process would lack credibility if such a mandate is not followed in letter and spirit.


E Complaints regarding design of the ballot paper.


13. Complaints have been received from various members about the design of the ballot paper, including the following:

1. Dr. Koshy K. Mathew dated 2.3.2006
2. Dr. Deepak Kumar dated 2.3.2006
3. Dr. B.S. Desikamani dated 3.3.2006
4. Dr. S. Prabhu dated 5.3.2006
5. Dr. Savita Ravindra dated 5.3.2006
6. Dr. Pramod Giri dated 5.3.2006


14. These complaints are on the ground that it is difficult for voters to read the names as they are too small and over-shadowed by the Association monogram. Further, it is difficult to make out which box for voting corresponds to a particular candidate. It has also been pointed out that the IAP membership numbers of the candidate should be included. The members have also complained that there is no criterion by which the order of candidates has been printed, and the listing of names appears to be at random.


15 In view of the fact that we have already directed that fresh ballot papers will have to be printed and bio-data circulated, we think the Election Officer should address these issues also. The ballot papers may be printed on slightly larger size paper so that the size of the print can be increased. Tick boxes should be close to the names of the contestants The IAP membership numbers should also be printed on the ballot papers. Near the box where the voter is to mark his or her vote, the serial number, corresponding to the candidate may also be printed. We also request the Election Officer to print the names of the candidates for each post in alphabetical order. The bio-data may also be printed in the booklet in the same order.


F. Dr. Uma Shankar Mohanty (L 5052) dated 5.3.06.


16. The complainant has stated that he filed nomination for two posts viz. Vice President and EC Member. Although his nominations for both posts were accepted and he did not withdraw his nominations, his name was missing from the ballot papers as a contestant for the post of EC Member. Regarding this complaint, the Election Officer has stated in his e-mail dated 4.3.2006, that it is a mistake due to human error. In view of the Election Committee’s suggestion that fresh ballot be held for CEC Members, the Tribunal is inclined to order accordingly.


17. The complaint of Dr. Mohanty was one of the grounds upon which the Tribunal issued the direction dated 6.3.2006 requesting the Election Officer to withhold counting of votes. Subsequently, the Tribunal has received a letter dated 18.3.2006 from the complainant, stating that his intention was not to hamper the election process and cause further expense or wastage of time and he therefore withdraws his complaint. We feel that the non-inclusion of a candidate’s name in the ballot paper is a serious issue and the candidate has already made a complaint to the Tribunal about it, upon which the Tribunal has taken action. In the Tribunal’s order dated 6.3.2006, the Tribunal had already expressed the view that “this major lapse invalidates the ballot papers and therefore the counting of votes.” The letter of the candidate dated 18.3.2006 has been sent after this order was already issued and long after the last date for withdrawal of nominations. In this order, we have referred to several discrepancies and irregularities which necessitate that fresh ballot papers should be printed and fresh ballots called for from the IAP members. Therefore, there would be no additional wastage of time or expense as apprehended by Dr. Mohanty. As we are calling for fresh ballot papers to be printed, we direct that Dr. Uma Shankar Mohanty’s name should also be included in the list of candidates for the Central Executive Committee.


CONCLUSION

18. On the basis of the above findings, we may summarize our directions as follows:


(a) We direct that the bio-data of candidates and ballot papers should be prepared afresh and circulated to all the voters. For preparation of the bio-data, the Election Committee should write to all the existing contestants requesting them to submit their material within the prescribed word limit, and stating that any matter in excess of the word limit would not be printed.


FORMAT FOR NOMINATION PAPER

Name –

Qualifications -
UG – Name of College / Institution, Name of University, Place and Year of passing.

PG - Name of College / Institution, Name of University, Place and Year of passing.

Academic achievements – Research / Publications, papers read (number only).

Positions [if any], held in the association (national or branch) with year of holding the office.
(not more than 50 words)

Designation of present position held at work and duration of the same and any other prestigious positions held in the past (not more than 30 words).

Manifesto in points (not more than 60 words).



(b) Once the bio-data are received or the time limit specified by the Election Tribunal for the same has lapsed, the bio-data should be printed in a booklet adhering strictly to the word limit and no editing should be undertaken. Any matter in excess of the word limit may be deleted. The bio-data of the candidates for each post should be arranged in alphabetical order of the candidates’ names.

(c) When the ballot papers are being printed afresh, the Election Committee may take into account the directions contained in paragraph 15 above.

(d) Due care should be taken to ensure that the ballot papers and booklet containing the bio-data are accurately printed.

(e) The name of Dr. A.K. Saxena should be included in the list of candidates for the post of Vice-President.

(f) In view of the fact that new ballot papers and bio-data are being printed, we feel the complaint of Dr. Saurabh Bhargava will be taken care of and no separate direction needs to be issued.

(g) The name of Dr. Uma Shankar Mohanty should be included in the list of candidates for membership of the Central Executive Committee.

(h) The Election Committee in consultation of the Election Tribunal, is requested to fix a new time-frame for the completion of the election process. We expect that the process would be completed within two months from the date of this order.


(i) The Tribunal further advises the present Central Executive Committee to continue as the caretaker committee until the results of the fresh ballot are declared by the Election Committee.




Copies of this order are being sent to the Election Officer, the Assistant Election Officers and all the current members of the Central Executive Committee of the IAP including the President, Vice-President, General Secretary and Treasurer.



( Dr. H.H. JAVLE )                            ( PROF. D.H. DASTOOR )                         ( PROF. B.V. BELLARE )


Dated: April 13th, 2006.