India, Sept. 27 -- At 3:30pm on Saturday, when members of the 221-year-old Asiatic Society of Mumbai (ASM) take their seats for the annual general meeting (AGM), they will veer off script in a way that hasn't happened before.

According to convention, the AGM begins with elections to fill positions in the managing committee that have run their term, ending with the results being announced. This time, there will be no elections.

The anomaly dates to the previous AGM in 2023, when elections were held to fill 17 posts, including that of the president, a position currently held by Vispi Balaporia, the ASM's first woman president, who is at the end of her six-year-term.

At the time, the returning officer for the elections had been a member o...