The elections to the Vaishali Enclave Society were held on Tuesday, 23 May 2023, from 10 am to 4 pm, being a working day voter turnout was very less. The elections are always held by the office of the DR/AR of UP Govt. The members are divided into 9 different wards, most of which have around 40 to 50 members each. Members of a Ward can elect only one representative from their ward and have no right to vote for contestants in the other 8 wards. These 9 representatives constitute the Managing Committee (MC). Now, 4 out of 9 wards have reserved positions. One for SC members, One for ST members and two wards for women candidates. Historically, the Vaishali Enclave Society has not been able to field candidates in the 2 positions of SC and ST and hence the elected MC is of 7 persons. Interestingly, Vaishali is eventually run by a Chairman (supported by a Vice Chairman) and these 2 positions are further elected by the Managing Committee (of 7 members) and not by the entire mass of the Vaishali members.
The members for 5 out of the remaining 7 wards were uncontested. Of the two wards contested, the focus was the Ward from where the incumbent Chairman filed his nomination.
In the elections held on 23 May, the previous Chairman was convincingly defeated by Wg. Cdr. Suresh Sharma. Given the low number of votes cast, the margin of defeat was significant, with Col R M Anand getting only 7 votes and Wg Cdr Suresh Sharma getting 11 votes.
The very next day of the elections, as per requirement, 5 MC members available at the allotted time had a meeting and Adhir Kishore, from Sector 39, was unopposed and elected as the Chairman. K.C. Gupta, from Sector 41, was unopposed and elected as the Vice Chairman. We must note that most members of Vaishali are residents of Sector 39, with some presence in other sectors like 41, 49 etc.
We wish the elected members and the entire MC the very best in providing the desired services to its members.
Samvada Adds: The concept of an RWA is nothing new. It has been around for quite some time now. Initially, RWAs were only seen in metropolitan cities but off late even residential colonies located in small towns have their RWAs. RWA is a voluntary/elected body of residents formed to act as a mediator or facilitator between the residents and Government and civic agencies. As in any democratic set-up, there are all kinds of people, and such is the case in RWAs also. Most office bearers of the RWA work selflessly for the welfare of the sector but of course, exceptions also exist. Any given individual has his or her capabilities and limitations and an ideal RWA representative knows when their limitations start getting in the way of working and it’s time to pass.
by M. Prasad (A – 11, Sector 39)
