JEDDAH, 16 June — A seven-member commission, constituted by the Ministry of Education to oversee the election for a new managing committee of the International Indian School, Jeddah (IISJ), has cleared eight candidates to contest the June 28 election.

Twenty-four people had filed nominations for membership of the committee to be elected by the parents of IISJ students. But after scrutiny of their nomination papers only eight were found eligible to try their luck. No reason was assigned for rejection of nominations.

Those declared eligible are: Dr. Muhammad Mohsin (West Bengal), Dr. Iqbal Musani (Maharashtra), M. Shanmugham (Tamil Nadu), Wandoor P. Abubacker, K.M. Sharif Kunju, Ali Sumesh (Kerala), Muhammad Abdul Khader and Dr. Yusuf Khan Jaweed (Andhra Pradesh).

The Indian community in Jeddah gave a mixed reaction to the nominations list and those left out of contention expressed their anguish, calling the exercise as an election “hijacked by a few close to those who matter.” A few of the disappointed candidates said that they would meet in a day or to two to decide what to do next.

Chaudhry Basharatullah, a member of the outgoing MC whose nomination was rejected this year, said that the list was prepared by “one Indian Embassy official.” But when reminded about the election commission, he said, “the embassy official had prepared the list in the name of the election commission.” This was done to ensure that the next MC would withdraw the case regarding the ownership of the IISJ building pending in a court, he said. Recently, a lower court had decided against the school’s claim over the building. He threatened to go to court on the issue.

First Secretary in Indian Embassy, Riyadh, Zikrur Rehman denied the allegations saying “the whole election process is being conducted under the supervision and guidance of the election commission consisting of members from the Ministry of Education. And the list was finalized by the commission after strictly following the norms.”

While there was some hiccups from the disappointed candidates, their supporters and a section of the parents, there were others who were happy about the list. They said the list consists of educated people. They felt sure that one of the candidates would withdraw to make way for an unopposed MC. A campaign is already under way in this regard. Since there are three candidates from Kerala, one of them was expected to pull out. The withdrawal can be done up to 3 p.m. on June 18.

Some parents however regretted that there was no representation of northern India in the list. One of the candidates from the north, Satish K. Gupta, said that he was “really disappointed that north Indians were left out without citing any reasons for their disqualification.”

Another candidate, Syed Najeeb Ahmad, whose nomination was also rejected, said that a lot of people from north India had filed their papers but no one made it to the list. Najeeb wanted to know why. Meanwhile, the list of voters as finalized on April 15, 2002 is already available on the IISJ website. There will be no change to that list except in cases where the fee dues up to March 31, 2002 are not paid. In order to exercise their voting right , parents must clear the dues latest by June 22.