India, Aug. 21 -- In a month, three premium clubs - Willingdon Sports Club, Cricket Club of India (CCI) and Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) - will have their Annual General Meetings (AGM) and elect their committees for 2026-27. By a strange coincidence, it will all be on September 17. The RWITC, unlike the other two clubs, will have its meeting on Zoom. And, for an unprecedented fourth year in a row, there will be "no contest" to its nine-member Board which will get elected unopposed. This is indeed a quirk of fate as the RWITC had become infamous for its stormy elections, over the top parties and, more often than not, a stringent contest for the chairmanship. I have always maintained the desirability of an in-person AGM at the RWITC, as it gives members the one chance in a year to interact with the committee and have a free question and answer session. The Suren Sanas-led Board concluded a landmark agreement with the state on getting a 30-year extension on the lease, but more importantly, received the approval to build a club house. New applicants have to pay a whopping membership fee, and one gathers around 200 have already enrolled. This provides the club with a money chest, and in the years to come, will enable much higher prize money and the revenue for a much-needed boost to infrastructure. In any democracy, "opposition" is not only desirable but healthy, and a vote by members to sift the chaff from the grain helps prevent a sense of complacency. But, the committee was clearly in no mood to encourage any candidate - old or new - in the fear that an election could disturb the status quo and the cohesiveness in its functioning. It is common knowledge that hardly a few on the Board are taking any material interest in its affairs. But, many corporates have indeed functioned well with dominant leadership. The CCI, a company like the RWITC, has to be applauded for several electoral initiatives. Having their AGM in person, voting both remote and in person, and introducing facial recognition for online votes to prevent insubordination are all good steps. The latest such step was in passing a resolution to have a compulsory break of two years for the president/treasurer upon completion of two successive two-year terms. This ensures no one individual has an extended tenure at the helm. This is worthy of the RWITC to emulate, even though it is idealistic. While the absence of an election has taken the sting out of the tail from this year's AGM, and left the 1,629 voting members not much to shout about, a last-minute nomination by Geoffrey Nagpal for a seat on the Appeal Board, challenging incumbent Chairman Shivlal Daga and Zinia Lawyer, the only woman on RWITC's two elected bodies, has breathed some fire in an otherwise dormant AGM....