The 13-member BgSE governing council comprises six elected directors and six public representatives. The elected directors are slated to meet on Wednesday to elect the president and office-bearers for the new term. The meeting will also decide on a new executive director in place of Ramachandra, who has resigned.

The current directors of BgSE apart from Shah include the former president K Ishwara Bhat, M G Dattatreya, T S Gopalakrishna, N M Girish and B V N Murthy. The three Sebi nominees are A Satyanarayana, B K Das and V Sreeniavasa Rao while the public representatives are H Naginchand Khincha, P P Bopanna and R Vaidyanathan.

According to sources, the elctions this time round should be unanimous.The general feeling among the brokers is that there should be a mix of young and old in the top three posts, viz. president, vice-president and treasurer.

With the capital market passing through a turbulent phase and broker sentiment at a low ebb, the new president will have a tough task cut out for him. The advent of the ISE on the horizon has also raised serious doubts about the survival of regional stock exchanges - many of which are facing liquidity problems.