The much-awaited election results of Himachal Pradesh based Kangra Central Co-op Bank finally came out on Wednesday, in which out of the 16 seats while Congress wrested five, rest went to BJP.
The voting was held on Wednesday and the results were announced on the same day. About 99 percent voting was recorded. Indora, Nurpur, Kullu, Baijnath and Pragpur seats have been captured by the congress candidates.
Himachal Pradesh CM Jairam Thakur and Cooperative Minister Suresh Bhardwaj had taken a keen interest in the election of the bank. Soon after the results they called all the winners to CM’s office.
In one seat namely Bhawarna in Kangra District, the outgoing director Ranjeet Rana and Gian Chand Rana got 36 votes each and it became a tie. The returning officer had to use the slip system to resolve the matter. Ranjeet Rana won the election. Jagdish Sapehia former Chairman of Kangra DCCB lost the election with huge margins.
Besides, Congress Ex MLA Kuldeep Singh Pathania who was contesting from Hamirpur has lost the election and Deshraj Thakur from BJP won the election. Thakur got 51 votes whereas Pathania got only 27 votes.
Several high-profile leaders who won the elections include, Ex-MLA (BJP) from Kullu, Maheshwar Singh son Hiteshwar Singh who contested the from Banjar Zone in Kullu district, former Minister from Congress Satya Prakash Thakur wife Prem Lata Thakur who contested from the Kullu seat, BJP leader Thakur Atma Prakash who contested the Nadaun seat in Hamirpur district and others.
It is learnt that the outgoing Chairman Dr Rajeev Bhardwaj has not contested the election. There is speculation that he would join the board as the government nominee and from there he can capture the top post.
Though the date of elections for Chairman and Vice-Chairman has not been announced, there is speculation that it will be announced soon. In the new board around four candidates are old ones, the rest are newcomers.
The names of elected directors are Keylong seat Champa Chhering, Kullu seat Prem Lata Thakur, Banjar seat Hiteshwar Singh, Baijnath seat Kulbinder Rana, Bhawarna seat Ranjeet Singh Rana, Nagrota seat Chander Bhushan, Rait seat Rajeev Kumar Mahajan, Nurpur seat Karnail Singh, Indora seat Karan Singh, Dehra seat Virendra Singh, Pragpur seat Lekh Raj, Hamirpur seat Desh Raj Thakur, Nadaun seat Atam Prakash, Amb seat Pritam Singh, Gagret seat Pawan Kumar, Una seat Balwant Singh.
It bears recall that the elections were held on 14 out of 16 seats of the elected directors on the board of the bank. From Keylong seat Champa Chhering and from Amb seat Pritam Singh were elected unopposed as there were no rivals against them.
The board of the bank comprises 21 directors, out of which 16 directors are elected from 16 zones, 3 government nominees, 1 State Registrar and 1 representative from HP State Co-op Bank.