Since Cuffe Parade Residents Association's formation in 1971, it is the first time an entire new panel of committee members have been elected
In a first in the Cuffe Parade Residents Association (CPRA) elections, residents have chosen a panel composed entirely of 'Parivartan' group members. Fifteen new faces now form the committee, from the elections held in August, due to alleged lack of development done by the previous committee. Since CPRA's formation in 1971, this is the first time an entire new panel of committee members have been elected with a such a huge margin of votes.
The elections, conducted on August 15 at Taj President in Cuffe Parade, had 32 candidates contesting from the Action Group and Parivartan Group. The CPRA, which has 49 buildings with 4,500 flats in both old and new Cuffe Parade area, saw a huge number of members voting this year. For two terms in the past three years each, and from 2011 to 2017, the Action Group ruled the CPRA led by Ashok Kanwar as President and BM Chaturvedi as Vice President of the association.
But, this year, Parivartan group members have won. Vijay Bhimrajka was elected with majority of votes (597) and is now President of CPRA. Aditi Jain was elected with second majority of votes (580) and was elected as Vice President of the association. A total of 15 committee members were elected from the Parivartan group leading to a major blow to the Action Group, as none of its members are on the panel.
"Elections are conducted through ballot voting and every member of the association has to choose 15 candidates on the ballot form. This year the voter turnout was huge and they chose us because the previous committee members failed to resolve the residents' issues, leading to a completely fresh committee being elected," said Padmakar Nandekar, General Secretary, CPRA.
"It is the first time in the history of CPRA that residents have elected an entirely new panel of candidates which clearly shows the anguish of residents towards the previous committee. With the majority of members being from Parivartan group we will able to take mutual decisions for the welfare of residents efficiently", said Nandekar.
Meanwhile, residents complained of lack of responsibility by the previous office bearers of CPRA, a resident said, "We elect members so that our issues are resolved. The previous committee did not help us and so we voted for new members who helped us approach the civic body to resolve our civic issues. We needed change."
BM Chaturvedi, former Vice President of CPRA, said, "We have worked efficiently throughout our tenure and resolved many of the residents' issues. With an entirely new committee having been elected, we feel they will be able to resolve the residents' issues more efficiently. We wish them luck for their work and expect they will work towards the betterment of the residents.
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 "Cuffe Parade Residents Association")
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