This is the first instance in the history of CSE when a newly elected director has been catapulted to the president's chair. There have been cases of past presidents getting re-elected and becoming president but Parekh's case is unparalleled, market stalwarts confirmed. Belying general expectations, the committee sprang a surprise by rooting for Parekh. Being the vice president in the outgoing committee, the general choice was Mahesh Bajaj. But events, as they unfolded, suggested that the groundwork was done much before the crucial committee meeting or the elections.

That the previous board did not gel together as a potent force was visible even to the layman. Serious differences persisted but they were never allowed to precipitate a crisis because influential members were against disturbing status quo. In the latest elections, thebigger broking firms had chalked out a strategy to tighten control on the exchange administration as they felt that the outgoing management was a failure in protecting the interests of the broking community at large. The emergence of Parekh, old timers explained, was not by chance but by design.