(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Members of an Indian expatriate community's welfare organisation will elect its new head through electronic voting on Friday.
Three candidates are in fray for the post of president of Indian Community Benevolent Forum (ICBF) and over 1,600 voters will decide their fate in a possibly keen contest.
And in keeping with India's diverse social and political set-up, the candidates belong to different religions and regions.
Arvind Patil, Mohamed Habib-Un-Nabi and Clarence Joseph are locked in a triangular fight.
ICBF is a welfare corpus managed by the community and affiliated to the Indian embassy and helps Indians in distress.
Members of an Indian community association recently chose its office-bearers through electronic voting and this organisation will help ICBF in its new poll process.
This was disclosed to reporters yesterday by P S Sasi Kumar, Deputy Head of Mission at Indian embassy who is coordinating officer for ICBF, and Karim Abdullah, ICBF's outgoing president.
The election for the president and six members of the managing committee will be held between 6pm and 9pm at Indian Cultural Centre in Al Mamoura.
ICBF's managing committee has a dozen members. A woman who filed nomination has been elected unopposed, while five members are nominated by the organisation's patron - the ambassador. And six members are to be elected from among nine candidates.
Results will be announced a little after the election since voting will be electronic, Kumar said.
He said during Karim Abdullah's two-year tenure as president, ICBF made several key achievements. It was also recognized and awarded by the Qatari government for its welfare work.
It held several medical camps that benefited low-income Indians and workers from many nationalities.
Air tickets were provided to a large number of distressed Indians stranded for want of money. Emergency travel documents, financial and medical assistance were provided to many Indians at ICBF's behest.
ICBF carries out welfare work with help from the embassy and the Indian community at large through donations.
Indians in Qatar are not the only ones giving away donations to ICBF. People from other nationalities, including Sudanese and Egyptians, also donate.
To a question, Kumar said runaway workers weren't a problem in the Indian community.
Abdullah, responding to a question about Indian maids, said ICBF had urged Qatari authorities not to allow nationals to bring maids on visit visas.
A release by ICBF later yesterday said it had demanded space within the premises of Qatar's National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) and its request had been acceded.
The ICBF office at NHRC, which is to formally open soon, will coordinate with distressed Indians approaching the committee for help.
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