Brokers fight for BSE board seat

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is set to witness another tussle between its brokers, with Asia’s oldest bourse going to polls on September 19 to elect a trading member director on its board. The exchange will see an election for the first time in nearly five years.

Balkishan Mohta, the current trading member director, who is seeking a re-election, is one of candidates in the fray. However, the BSE Brokers’ Forum, a the body of BSE stockbrokers, has decided to support Kirti Doshi, 43, the chairman and managing director of Mumbai-based Antique Stock Broking, against Mohta.

Speaking to Business Standard, Kirti Doshi, who is also the vice-chairman of the forum, said: “I have been asked to contest the elections this time by the forum members as they feel that some brokers have been on the BSE board for a long time.” Mohta could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

Praful Shah of Pilot Capital, yet another Mumbai-based stockbroker, who was also contesting for the post, withdrew his nomination on Friday. “I am not comfortable with the election procedure. I believed that I could convey my thoughts to shareholders of the exchange and win elections on a fair opinion. However, I am afraid of high proxy votes, which may not be in my favour,” said Shah.

“We have been hurt by allegations that the persistent interference by stockbrokers in the day-to-day working of BSE has hampered the growth of the exchange and has destabilised its professional working environment. Hence, the forum has taken a decision to support the trading member director’s candidature for not more than three years,” said a spokesperson for the BSE Brokers Forum.

The stock exchange has been embroiled in controversies since the resignation of three of its top executives, including its CEO Rajnikant Patel, about a month ago.

Sources claimed that many stockbrokers were unhappy with the board’s decision to impose a collective fine of Rs 27 crore on over 100 brokers across the country for dealing in shares of BSE-listed KGN Industries. The share price of KGN had recently shot up by nearly 100,000 per cent in a single trading session and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had asked BSE to take action against the manipulators.