JEDDAH — As the process to hold elections to the new managing committee of the International Indian School-Jeddah (IISJ) gained momentum, some community members whose nomination papers were rejected have come forward to question the impartiality and fairness of the election process. Addressing a press conference at Impala Garden here on Saturday, they called for putting off the entire election exercise until after the annual summer vacation, which is around the corner. The election is to be held on June 20. Nine out of 21 candidates are eligible to contest the election. They alleged that rejection of nomination papers of majority of candidates on one pretext or the other showed that the concerned authorities deliberately operated on a plan to disqualify strong and efficient candidates who are capable of fighting to protect the interests of both students and teachers. “The Election Commission, headed by IISJ Principal Syed Masood Ahmed, selected a panel of nine candidates. It is clear from this that seven of them will be elected to the committee while the remaining two will be reserve members,” said Mohan Balan, a Mumbai-based Keralite who filed nomination papers to contest as a representative from the state of Maharashtra. Balan met the Election Commissioner Syed Masood, Head of Chancery and the school observer Muhammed Raghib Qureshi, and Khaled Al-Ghamdi, Supervisor for Foreign Education at the Ministry of Education, and complained about the rejection of his nomination paper. As per the directives of the ministry official, the commission took up the matter again but it rejected unanimously Balan's request to reconsider the decision. In a letter mailed to Balan, the commission stated that he failed to fulfill the norms for his nomination paper to be accepted. It said that he failed to present the original degree certificate for verification. “Based on his complaint, he was called Saturday to present his case to the commission including the MoE official. When asked about the original degree, he replied that he had lost it while traveling in Mumbai.” However, Balan claimed that a duly attested provisional degree certificate is sufficient to contest the election. The commission noted that the given name in his passport (Mohan Balan) does not completely tally with his name (Balan Chandramohan) in the attached photocopy of his degree, and this was another reason for rejecting the nomination. The commission said his certificate was not duly attested by the Human Resources Development Ministry (HRD) and Saudi Embassy in Delhi or the Consulate General of India and the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jeddah. However, Balan produced copies of his provisional certificate duly attested by the Saudi Embassy in Delhi and Consulate General of India and the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The press meet was also attended by Godwin Isac Raj (Tamil Nadu), Sunil Younus (Kerala) and Farouq Hussein (Andhra Pradesh), who are members of the current nominated Managing Committee, and another candidate Muhammad Iqbal (Kerala). Their nomination papers too have reportedly been rejected because of their ineligibility due to their membership in the present committee. Raj said that rejection of his papers dashed all hopes of the Tamil community who will be represented by none in the coming committee. Tamil students constitute the third largest community at IISJ.
