Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla remains at the helm
By Sharan Kumar

Dec 21, 2006

Dr Cyrus Poonawalla was re-elected Chairman at the end of the high-profile elections to the RWITC Managing Committee held on Thursday, December 21. The elections to the managing committee had aroused great interest all over the country, with the groups headed by the glamour man Dr Vijay Mallya and Dr.Cyrus Poonawalla who owns the Serum Institute of India which manufactures life saving drugs. In the nine-member panel that was elected to the Managing Committee, the Poonawalla group had put up five candidates namely Dr. Shashi Chand Jain, former Chairman of RWITC, M/s Vivek Jain, Shivlal Daga and Champaklal Zhaveri, all of whom occupied the first five slots on the order of votes polled.

Dr.Cyrus Poonawalla (centre) flanked by his victorious team. From left: Mr.Champaklal Zhaveri, Dr.S.C. Jain, Mr.Vivek Jain and Mr. Shivlal Daga

The Dr Vijay Mallya group had fielded seven candidates in the fray and four of them were successful. Apart from Dr Mallya, the others to be elected from his team were M/s Khusro Dhunjibhoy, Shyam Ruia and Vijay Shirke. Mr.Ravi Ghai who was originally with the Poonawalla Group and later switched camp, was the shock loser along with Mr. Sunil Jhangiani who had finished third highest in the previous elections. Mr. Arun Nanda was the other high profile candidate to lose.

The following are the votes polled by the contestants: Mr. Vivek Jain (843); Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla (823);  Mr.Champaklal Jhaveri (698); Dr. S C Jain (652); Mr. Shivlal Daga (650); Dr. Vijay Mallya (645); Mr. S M Ruia (527); Mr. K N Dhunjibhoy (503); Mr. Vijay Shirke (483); Mr. Ravi Ghai (474); Mr. Sunil Jhangiani (466); Mr. Arun Nanda (390). The first nine candidates are declared elected.