Hassan Cheruppa
JEDDAH — Elections to the managing committee (MC) of the International Indian School, Jeddah, (IISJ) will be held on Saturday, May 28. The Ministry of Education has approved the list of 17 candidates whose nomination papers have been accepted after the scrutiny, Syed Masood Ahmed, IISJ principal and election commissioner, told Saudi Gazette.
The polling will start at 8.30 a.m. and will continue until 4.30 p.m. without any break at IISJ Boys’ Section. The counting and declaration of results will be made immediately after the end of voting. “All the preparations are underway to ensure free and fair election. The election commission held several meetings to review each and every phase of the election process as well as to finalize the arrangements,” Ahmed added that more than 100 school staff members will be deployed to make the election process smooth and flawless.
He said the managing committee would comprise seven with a limit of two members from one state. In case there are more than two candidates from a single state contesting, only the two who scored the highest number of votes from the state will be elected to the body.
Among the 17 candidates, six are from the southern Indian state of Kerala. They are Abdul Nazar Kallungal Padam, Abdurahiman Chettiyarmala, Mohammed Iqbal Manissar Kunnath, Shabeeb Pattar Kadavan, Shamsuddeen Kodakkodan and Siraj Muhammad Aboobacker. There are three candidates each from Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. They are Ataur Rahman, Jawed Alam, and Majid Saleem Siddiqi (UP), and Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Yusuf, Noorul Ameen, and Sheik Khaja Mohideen (Tamil Nadu). The other candidates are Mohammed Abdul Mubeen (Andhra Pradesh), Chandramohan Velliyaprayil Balan (Maharashtra), Mohammed Asif Rameez Daudi (Bihar), Tahir Ali (Karnataka), and Shah Himanshu Suresh Chandra (Gujarat).
Nomination papers of seven members of the incumbent MC have been rejected. According to the school charter, the MC members can contest again only after the expiry of two consecutive terms of MC spanning six years. Ahmed said that there would be 20 polling booths, to be arranged at the school’s primary division block. “The eligible voters will be allowed to enter the school campus only through Gate No. 3 and they should proceed to the school auditorium where they can have their verification slip from one of the 8-10 verification counters, prior to casting their votes. There will be two polling officers at each of the 20 booths,” he said adding that no canvassing of voters will be allowed in and around the school premises.
The election commission comprises seven members, including the commissioner. They are Faisal Al-Jahdali, the observer from the Ministry of Education, Shahid Alam, deputy consul general and school observer, Prof. Israrul Haque of Batterjee Medical College, Jacob Thomas (representatives of parents, Mohammed Imran, and Mohammed Akram (representatives of school staff).
Around 7,000 Indian parents are eligible to vote. In a circular issued on Wednesday, the election commissioner urged all parents to come forward to exercise their franchise. Only the parents whose names are included in the final List of Voters displayed on the website and the notice boards will be eligible to vote. Each voter will have to vote for seven candidates. Voting for more or less than 7 candidates will render the ballot invalid. The vote has to be cast only by affixing the provided stamp in the box against the names of the candidates. All eligible voters have to compulsorily produce the valid original Iqama (residency permit) for verification at the time of voting. If the original Iqama is not available, photocopy of the same duly attested in original by the sponsor could be presented.
The current MC assumed office after elections held on 20, June 2013.
