Leading the young turks is Deena Mehta, the blunt and matter of fact governing board member, who is also the first women broker to sit on the BSE governing board. Ironically, most of the young turks were brought into exchange administration by MG Damani during his tenure as president of the bourse during 1996-98.

The traditional battleline of `Gujarati-vs-Marwari' hegemony has been pushed to the back ground. For the hard core traditionalists though, a governing board election without the age-old `Gujarati-Marwari' barrier takes away all the thrill from the election. They insist that the team headed by Bhagirath Merchant asrepresentative of the `Marwari interests' and the Young Turks representing the `Gujarati block'. This is despite the fact that the Young Turks have many `Marwaris' also among their rank.

Though the election is only for four govering board posts, everyone sees it as the election to decide the next president. Deena Mehta and Bhagirath Merchant are expected to clash for presidentship immediatly after the governing board election. The tide at present is in favour of Deena Mehta who enjoys maximum support among the sitting governing board members.

It is also felt that Sebi is in favour of the `Young Turks' ascending power. The last minute entry of three `young turks', it is said, was possible on account of Sebi's intervention on March 11, which was the last day for submitting the applications. Sebi introduced changes in the rule 100 of the exchange's byelaws which enabled even a fresh corporate member to contest elections and enter the governing board.

Contestants representing the young turks are HimanshuKaji, Dinesh J Shah, Cyrus Shroff, Motilal Oswal, Ameet R Dalal and Rajendra Prasad Jhunjhunwala. When one talks of these new entrants the reference point is their participation in the various committees of the exchange and also in the computerisation of the exchange. The old timers include Bhagirath Merchant, Madhukar Sheth, Jayesh Seth and Bhanu Kumar Fozdar.

They are known with exchange administration from the good old times when the trading was conducted at the ring. Madhukar Sheth had a big role to play in the bail out process of the exchange during the payment crisis of June 1998. The entry of Bhagirath Merchant has come as a surprise. He had just a few months back sold his proprietory BSE membership card. At present he has a stake in a corporate membership.

Bharti Thakkar, the only woman contestant, belongs to the famous Samani family. She became famous earlier as the first women trader in the ring nearly a decade ago. Himanshu Kaji, a designated director of Kaji & Maulik Securities, is a rankholding chartered accountant who began his career with India's premier financial institution ICICI. Kaji also worked closely with MG Damani in various projects and played an active role in establishing the Central Depository Services of India.

Motilal Oswal is considered by many as the leading light among the new breed of brokers who, though modern in his investment policy, is conservative about the broking profession.

Another nominee, Dinesh J Shah, with a commerce background has played a significant role in the arbitration and market operation committee of the exchange. The market operation committee is the most important committee of the exchange set up with representation of BSE administrative staff, directors and a Sebi director. Interestingly, he has also played an active role in clearing up the mess at the BoI clearing house during the June, 1998 payment crisis.

Similarly, Cyrus Shroff, designated director of BD Shroff Securities, is also a second generation broker with a professional background.He has also worked closely with MG Damani and was active in the arbitration committee of the exchange.