Current chairman Dr Cyrus Poonawalla has opted out of the fray after completing his three-year term as head of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC).

Dr Poonawalla's decision not to contest in tomorrow's election, to be held at the Mahalaxmi club from 4.30 pm to 8 pm, may come as a surprise to some. For a couple of years now, it was expected that Poonawalla would not contest, leaving the door open for Vivek Jain.

Yet, every time an election came around, Dr Poonawalla would contest, taking the chairman's post, saying that the punters wanted him to contest.

This time though, Dr Poonawalla is well and truly out. Jain says, "The committee elects the chairman, and if I am elected I would accept with grace and humility."

New contenders
Meanwhile, it might be turf going for four new contenders who have thrown their hat into the ring.

Besides the existing committee of Shyam Ruia, Shivlal Daga, Champaklal Zaveri, Vivek Jain, Mohan Thakur, Dr S Jain, Jaydev Mody and Ram Shroff contesting for re-election, there are four new candidates in the fray for nine seats on the committee.

The new candidates are Geoffrey Nagpal, Gautam Lala, Suresh Advani and Prakash Kedari.