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The Importance of Social Change by Radha Burnier (PDF)
Who is the Winner by Radha Burnier
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A Day in the Life of Adyar by Pedro Oliveira
The Secret Doctrine by Dr N. C. Ramanujachary
Past White Lotus Day Tributes to H.P.B.
Adyar Diary by Pedro Oliveira
Universal Brotherhood by T. Katsifis
Theosophists and Brotherhood by C. Jinarājādasa
Meditation on Life by N. Sri Ram
Excerpts of the Presidential Address (2008) by Radha Burnier
FEATURED
Voting Practice and its History within the General Council of the T.S.
(This article is from an Aikya contributor interested in theosophical history.)
Although founded in New York in 1875 the Theosophical Society was incorporated as a Society in Madras on 3rd April 1905 under the Act for the Registration of Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies, 1860.
In the Memorandum of Association (1905) the declared composition of the Society’s General Council was an international one: besides the ex-officio officers (President-Founder, H. S. Olcott, Vice-President, A. P. Sinnett, Recording Secretary, S. Subramania Aiyar and Treasurer, W. A. English) it included the following General Secretaries:
Alexander Fullerton (United States of America) |
The Additional members of the Council included Annie Besant (India), G. R. S. Mead (England), Khan Bahadur Naoroji Dorabji Khandalvala (India), Dinshaw Jivaji Edal Behram (India), Francesca E. Arundale (India), Tammacharla Ramachandra Row (India) and Charles Blech (France).
The international nature of the General Council of the TS naturally thus made it necessary for some of its business to be transacted by correspondence. Long before the incorporation of the TS in Madras in 1905 the Rules of the TS allowed voting by correspondence within the General Council. As an example we give below what is stated in Article 5 of the Constitution and Rules of the Theosophical Society of 1890:
ARTICLE V
General Council
1. The general control and administration of the Society is vested in a General Council, consisting of the President, Corresponding Secretary, Vice-President and General Secretaries of Sections.
2. The business of the General Council may be conducted by correspondence; all questions to be decided by a majority of votes, as communicated to the President, who shall have a casting vote in case of a tie. The names of Sections voting for or against any proposal shall be communicated by the President to the General Secretaries together with the decision of the Council.
On 31 January 1900, the President-Founder, Col. Henry S. Olcott, issued the following letter, whose facsimile is reproduced below:
To the Members of the General Council:
By the terms of the existing trust deed of the Society provision is made for our filling vacancies, and as three such have been caused by the deaths of William Q. Judge and Tookaram Tatya and the withdrawal from the Society of Sydney V. Edge, I nominate in their places Alexander Fullerton of New York, William Austin English, M.D., of Adyar, Madras, and Dr. Edal J. Behram, of Surat.
Upon receiving your letters of approval I shall take the necessary steps to have the legal documents prepared and sent to the nominees for execution.
Your replies please address to me at Adyar.
Yours fraternally,
H. S. Olcott
.............................................P.T.S.To the
...........Vice-President T.S.
Facsimile of H.S. Olcott's letter to the General Council (31 January 1900.)
On 5th September 1910, Annie Besant issued the following Circular Letter:
To the Members of the General Council
My dear Colleagues,
I have received no nominations to supply the vacancies created by the retirement of Miss Francesca Arundale, Dr. W. A. English, and Kh. B. N. D. Khandalavala from the General Council, and as they are all good members I propose that they should be re-elected.
The 1st. part of the Universal Text Book of Religions and Morals, which was ordered to be prepared at the last Council Meeting, will shortly be finished; part has already been sent to you and the rest will follow. Kindly notify your approval, or the reverse, of its issue by the Council.
As the whole Theosophical Society is prosperous and in vigorous working order, there are no other special matters which I need to submit to you.
Faithfully yours,
Annie Besant
........President of the Theosophical Society
.
Facsimile of A. Besant's letter to the members of the General Council ( 5th September 1910.)
Annie Besant received, among others, the following written replies to the above mentioned Circular Letter, also reproduced in their respective facsimiles:
Oct. 6th 1910
To
The President,
...............Theosophical Society
My dear Mrs Besant,
This is just to tell you that I thoroughly approve of your proposal that Miss Arundale, Dr English, and Kh. B.N.D. Khandalavala, be re-elected to the General Council; also that the “Universal Text-book “ be issued. I think it is a splendid work and will be a splendid tribute to the Theosophical Society.
Always faithfully yours,
S. Maud Sharpe
General Secretary
Facsimile of S. Maud's letter to Annie Besant( Oct. 6th 1910.)
Box 327 P.O.
Auckland, N.Z.
Oct. 27 1910.Dear Madam,
I beg to record my vote in favour of the re-election to the General Council of Miss Francesca Arundale, Dr. W. A. English, and Kh. B. N. D. Khandalavala.
I also fully approve of the Council issuing “The Universal Text Book of Religion and Morals” which I trust will bear good fruit throughout the world.
I do not agree with the remarks made by the critic in regard to the title page.
Yours in all
.....................fraternal love
C. W. Sanders
Gen. Sec.
N.Z.S.T.S.
Facsimile of C.W.Sanders' letter to Annie Besant (Oct. 27 1910.)
Stockholm den 28 Oct. 1910.
To the President of the Theosophical Society.
Dear Mrs. A. Besant
In reply to your letter of the 5 of September last I beg to import that I agree with the proposions of re-election of Miss Francesca Arundale, Dr. W. A. English, and Kh. B. N. D. Khandalavala members of the General Council.
I also approve the issue of the Universal Text Book of Religions and Morals by the Council.
Yours Faithfully
Cristof Kind
General Secretary of the Theosophical Society in Scandinavia
Facsimile of Cristof Kind's letter to Annie Besant (28 Oct. 1910.)
The tradition of voting by correspondence continued within the Council later on. For example, in Article 5 of the ‘Theosophical Society Memorandum of Association’, included in the General Report of the TS for 1916, it is stated:
At all meetings of the General Council, members thereof may vote in person, or in writing, or by proxy. |
Let us consider some examples of voting within the General Council which was reported in Minutes of the meeting of the Council as published in the Annual Report of the Theosophical Society.
Item 3 of the Minutes of the General Council (GC) meeting held on 2 December 1921 states:
Votes on the confirmation of nomination of Bro. C. Jinarajadasa as Vice-President of the TS, and on the proposal of the President that Bro. J. Krishnamurti should fill the vacant place, if Bro. Jinaradajasa was confirmed, were all in favour, hence Bro. Jinaradajasa was confirmed, and Bro. J. Krishnamurti was elected in his place as an Additional Member of the General Council for three years. |
Item 2 of the Minutes of the GC meeting held on 25 December 1928 says:
Confirmation of the nomination of Mr. A. P. Warrington as Vice-President – The nomination of Mr. A. P. Warrington as Vice-President of the Theosophical Society having received the necessary majority of votes, was therefore confirmed. . |
Item 4 of the Minutes of the General Council meeting held on 25 December 1933 mentions the following:
Additional Members – It was reported that the result of the election of Additional Members was as follows:
Rt. Rev. C. W. Leadbeater 41 votes for, 2 against
All of them were, therefore, declared elected Additional Members of the General Council for a period of three years (1934, 1935, and 1936). |
|
Item 2 of the General Council meeting held on 25 December 1934 declared:
Confirmation of the nomination of Mr. Hirendra Nath Datta as Vice-President – The voting in respect of the nomination of Mr. Hirendra Nath Datta as Vice-President of the Theosophical Society was as follows: 51 for, none against and 9 not voting. The nomination was therefore confirmed. . |
Voting was disrupted within the Council during World War II as item 2 of the GC meeting held on 25 December 1941 mentions:
Matters, if any, arising out of the Minutes. None. |
The Minutes of the General Council meeting held on 25 December 1961, item 12, state:
Election of Five (5) Additional Members to the General Council for the years 1962, 1963 and 1964. – The undermentioned members were declared duly elected as Additional Members for a period of 3 years (1962, 1963 and 1964). The results of the voting were as follows:
............... For Against |
Item 11 of the Minutes of the General Council meeting held on 31 December 1965 reports the following:
Election of four (4) Additional Members to the General Council for the years 1966, 1967 and 1968 in place of (1) Mr. J. E. van Dissel and (2) Dr. Hugh Shearman, whose terms expired in 1965, and (3) Mrs. Doris Groves and (4) Miss Emma Hunt, who had passed away on 24-11-64 and 31-1-65 respectively:
Under Rule 2(b) the President re-nominated Mr. J. E. van Dissel and Dr. Hugh Shearman, and nominated Miss Helen V. Zahara and Mr. V. Wallace Slater as Additional Members of the General Council for the years 1966, 1967 and 1968. The names were circulated for voting, with the following result:
For Against Mr. J. E. van Dissel 36 –
The four additional members mentioned above were declared duly elected Additional Members of the General Council. |
At its meeting held on 25 December 1970 the General Council confirmed the voting in the election of James S. Perkins as Vice-President. Item 3 of the Minutes of that meeting states:
Confirmation of voting for election of Vice-President ......................................................48. .....................Nil Mr. James S. Perkins was declared re-elected as Vice-President, the term of his office beginning on 1st May 1970. |
Following the passing of N. Sri Ram in April 1973, John Coats was elected President of the TS in 1973. The Minutes of the Council meeting held on 25 December 1974 include the following:
Confirmation of voting on election of the Vice-President, Miss Joy Mills:
For Against Abstaining Total
Having received the required number of votes, the election of the Vice-President was confirmed. |
Joy Mills was re-elected in 1977 as the Minutes for the General Council meeting held on
25 December of that year show:
Confirmation of Voting
The results of voting for the re-election of Miss Joy Mills were as follows: ....................For Against Abstaining Total
|
Before he had passed away, in December 1979, John Coats had nominated Surendra Narayan as Vice-President as shown in the Minutes of the GC meeting held on 24 December 1979:
To confirm voting on the following: For Against Abstaining Total
The election of Mr. Surendra Narayan as International Vice-President from 1st January 1980, was confirmed. |
Radha Burnier was elected President of the TS in 1980. Although Mr Surendra Narayan had been elected for a period of three years, as mentioned above, Mrs Burnier nominated him as Vice-President as determined by Rule 11(a) of the Rules of the TS. She also nominated six Additional Members as shown in Item 3 of the Minutes of the General Council meeting held on 25 December 1980:
Confirmation of Voting Under Rule 11(a) of the Rules and Regulations of the Theosophical Society the President nominated Mr. Surendra Narayan as Vice-President. The result of the voting by members of the General Council was as follows:
For Against Abstaining Total
The election of Mr. Surendra Narayan as Vice-President for 1981, 1982 and 1983 was confirmed.
Under Rule 2(b) of the Rules and Regulations of the Theosophical Society, the President nominated for re-election Mrs. Emily Sellon, Mr. James S. Perkins, Mr. Wallace Slater and Dr. Hugh Shearman as Additional Members of the General Council. She also nominated Miss Ianthe Hoskins and Mr. C.R.N. Swamy as Additional Members. The six names were circulated for voting, with the following results: Name For Against Abstaining ...Total
The above-mentioned six were declared duly elected Additional Members. |
The evidence presented above clearly establishes that for almost 120 years the General Council of the TS has transacted business by correspondence, including voting. The Annual Report of the TS includes the text of the Minutes of the General Council meeting which is held every December at Adyar. It is a public document that is sent to all Sections of the Society world wide and some Annual Reports are now even available on the Internet.
The Minutes of the General Council meeting declare the voting results for the election of Vice-President, Treasurer and Additional Members of the Council. For such elections each member of the Council is sent, with three months’ notice, as determined by the Rules of the TS, voting slips which are then returned by them to the International Secretary at Adyar. The results of such elections are then tabled by the Secretary at the December meeting of the Council. The system of voting slips guarantees an equal opportunity for all Council members to exercise their democratic right to vote, even if they cannot be present at the December meeting.
Rule 2(b) of the Rules of the TS states:
The General Council shall include not fewer than 5 and not more than 12 Additional Members, among whom all past Presidents while in good standing shall automatically have place. Other members shall on the nomination of the President be elected for a term of three years by vote of the General Council at its Annual Meeting, their names having been sent to the Members of the General Council at least three months before the Annual Meeting. |
Rule 5(b) of the Rules of the TS says:
At all meetings of the General Council, members thereof may vote in person, or in writing, or by proxy duly given to another member of the General Council for the particular meeting concerned. Except as aforesaid no member shall exercise more than one vote. No member shall be allowed to exercise more than 5 proxy votes. |
Recently, a rather unusual interpretation has been given by some individuals to the spirit of Rule 2(b). They maintain that Additional Members of the General Council can only be elected at the Council meeting itself by those who are there. That would exclude the several members who, for many reasons, cannot attend meetings at Adyar. However, the expression “their names having been sent to the Members of the General Council at least three months before the Annual Meeting” in the said Rule clearly implies that all Council members have a right to vote. The voting by correspondence is clearly established in Rule 5(b) mentioned above and it represents the continuation of an established practice within the General Council of the TS for the past 120 years, which assures to all the members of the Council, regardless of their geographical location, an equal opportunity in their democratic right to vote.
