J Sagar Associates (JSA) has elected its new executive committee (excom) by secret ballot, voting in four incumbents and Delhi partner Amit Kapur in contested elections.

Delhi-based projects partner Kapur, who has been at the firm since 1997, became partner in 2000 and was on the excom for three years until 2010. He was now voted into the committee again after standing for election.

He told Legally India that he had stood down in 2010 because he had wanted to concentrate on expanding the firm’s national footprint and stabilising the infrastructure and regulatory policy practice, which was facing a lot of pressure.

In Mumbai Akshay Chudasama, who focuses on corporate, and banking and finance partner Dina Wadia, reprise their roles on the executive committee.

Also re-elected were Murali Ananthasivan in Bangalore, whose co-founded firm M&C Partners had merged with JSA in 2009, and corporate commercial partner Shivpriya Nanda in Gurgaon.

A total of nine partners stood for election to the executive committee, said managing partner Berjis Desai.

“It’s a vibrant process where different people from young to senior have stood up and then partners around the table voted by secret ballot,” said Kapur. And although some candidates who wanted to get into the excom didn’t, he said that it was only a three year appointment that everybody knows would not be for life.

Desai chairs the committee, having taken over from the firm’s now-retired founder Jyoti Sagar for the last six months.

The new committee was elected by secret ballot at the last partners’ meeting on 9 March, said Desai, rather than by consensus as had been the case previously.

“About nine people this time were in the fray,” he said. “Even for me it was quite interesting [that so many stood].”

Each elected committee member may serve a maximum of two three-year terms, said Desai.

“The excom is a delegate body of the larger partnership functioning make life easy for other partners,” commented Kapur, adding that it functioned strictly with each partner having one vote under no obligation to necessarily agree with the managing partner.