It’s a three-horse race as Nitin Dossa throws hat into ring, equations change and election hots up at SoBo club
Kekoo Nicholson current CCI president, Kapil Malhotra and Nitin Dossa, the vintage car man
The Cricket Club of India (CCI) elections to be held on September 23 and 24 were supposed to be a battle of the Ks — current president Kekoo Nicholson against his contender Kapil Malhotra, former CCI vice-president. But now, with another candidate — Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) honcho and CCI Executive Committee (EC) member Nitin Dossa — throwing his hat in the ring, it has become a three-horse race for the hot seat.
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Battle heats up
The club has a code of conduct in place that forbids contenders from speaking to the press prior to the elections. A senior member though, spoke for Malhotra that he was a good vice-president and will
carry on those qualities to his next post.
Dossa, meanwhile, is all set to send out a letter to the club’s 2,400-odd member base, citing his credentials as an administrator. The letter, a copy which is with this paper, state some of his achievements like “creating more space in the stadium house area of the club by pursuing action against illegal encroachments on our collective property.”
It also cites another aim of creating a, “centre for senior citizens and a café serving health and diet foods.” A Dossa supporter says it would be foolish to “discount his chances, because of his stellar administrative experience.” Current president Kekoo Nicholson has a substantial support base at the Churchgate club, too, which has been cleaved like all elections, into groups and lobbies.
The lobby game
With the code of conduct right now, contenders refuse to speak, but in 2011, when Nicholson was contesting against Sevanti Parikh for the presidency he had told this paper, when asked about his campaign strategy, “I am not a traditional politician. I do not spend my time making Gujarati vote banks.” At that time, he had been asked if he meant that Parikh specifically was wooing the club’s substantial Gujarati voter base, but Nicholson had denied it. Parikh had simply laughed in an interview to this paper when asked for a response.
This time club insiders, do talk about a Punjabi lobby and a Gujarati lobby, but an irked member says, “why single out CCI? Today, most clubs in the city have these lobbies.” Naval Pundole, chairman of the election overseeing committee and current CCI vice-president refused to be drawn into any controversy. He simply stated that, “Members should use their discretion and vote for the candidate who does his best for the club.” Over to the elections, ladies and gentlemen.
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