Namaste. Saanu thada vote chahida hai (We need your vote).

It?s poll pal (time) at the Punjabee Bradree, the nerve centre of the nearly six lakh-strong Punjabi community in Calcutta. And from the suniara (goldsmith) to the saraph (banker), almost everyone is engaged in word or deed in the run-up to the September 25 mega event.

Ballot Saturday will be followed by the institution?s 38th AGM the next day.

Campaigning, which kicked off a good six weeks back, is now reaching fever pitch, with a ?rank outsider?s hat? thrown into the ring (see box).

?While the school project (coming up on the EM Bypass) is foremost on our agenda, we want to continue the good work done by our group over the years. Among other things, an old-age home is very much on the cards,? says Akash Deep Bhatia, sitting secretary and presidential candidate from the reigning lobby piloted by Satish Kapoor, past president and Bradree Ratan (a prestigious title conferred on a member of the community).

Challenger Kapil Katiyal, representing a rebel faction in the institution, counters: ?Bradree stands for relationship and our poll plank is forging closer ties among the members. Over the past 15 years, the present group has encouraged a degree of elitism and our aim would be to bring in more transparency and help the lower crust? Even the seemingly well-ensconced BJP was shocked in the Parliament polls. So we are optimistic.?

The election at the Bradree, held every two years, picks a new president, besides 20 executive committee members.

Voting to elect the building standing committee is held every four years and coincides with the general polls this year. Splinter groups spice up the power play, occasionally.

Notwithstanding Katiyal?s (Congress-like) bullishness, the Kapoor camp would be tougher to unseat than the BJP, warn old-timers.

?I will surely cast my vote and there?s no reason to disturb the continuity of the development thread picked up by the present committee,? says P.L. Sareen.

The 80-year-old Bradree Ratan had done the bhoomi puja for the present premises of Punjab Bhawan at 7, Mayfair Road after Jit Paul helped procure the land in 1975.

The oldest member of the Bradree, Mulk Raj Malhotra, 94 and ramrod-straight, is keen to cast his vote and uphold the ?spirit of brotherhood?.

If Rai Bahadur Ram Saran Das had conceptualised the Bradree back in 1941 to ?bring the Punjabis of the city together?, the present tribe is keen to further the spirit of camaraderie. But election time draws a few battlelines and gets some of the fighting spirit flowing.

While door-to-door canvassing is very much in fashion, 25 to 30 per cent of the electorate can be tapped at strategic commercial pockets ? the Prinsep Street auto parts mart, the wholesale Bagri Market, Burrabazar and the hardware market on Netaji Subhas Road.

The exercise is monitored and executed by an independent election committee and the interest is extremely high.

?We are all proud to be associated with the Bradree,? asserts Swarn Obhrai, leading the ladies? wing and a contestant for the building panel.