Even before the vote could be cast, sensing his excruciating defeat, Pune corporator Subhash Mohite surrendered and announced his withdrawal. When this news came to the Indian Cooperative last evening, we talked to Mohite to confirm the news. He said unambiguously “yes I am no longer in the race.”
This has led to a situation when the seven candidates backed by the outgoing President Jyotindra Mehta-HK Patil are sure to win the Nafcub election to be held on today i.e. 12th February 2024.
Subhash Mohite is a well-known cooperator as far as the cooperative banking sector in Pune is concerned. He also heads the Pune District Cooperative Banks Association.
It bears recall for seven seats, nine candidates were in the fray but with the withdrawal of Mohite, the situation has changed. Sources say Ms. Varsha Mali who is contesting as an independent candidate does not enjoy much support among co-operators.
But the duo of Mohite and Mali has indeed put the huge election machine into action, with voters drawn from several states reaching Delhi to cast their votes. Some say it’s a waste of both time and money, especially when both of them know quite well that they are not going to make it.
The candidates backed by the Mehta-Patil panel are, A.M.Hindasgeri, CA Milind Kale, Chalasani Raghvendra Rao, Gautambhai Vyas, Gianchand Garg, K Kalappa and Kanjibhai Bhalala.
Milind Kale is the Chairman of Cosmos Cooperative Bank while Chalasani Raghavendra Rao is the Chairman of Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank. Similarly, K Kalappa is director on the board of Sri Channabasavaswamy Souharda Pattana Sahakari Bank and Gautambhai Vyas is the Chairman of Bardoli Nagrik Sahakari Bank.
Among the other three –Gianchand Gard is the Chairman of Akola Janata Commercial Cooperative Bank and Kanjibhai Bhalala is on the board of Varchha Cooperative Bank. A.M. Hindasgeri is on the board of Azad Urban Cooperative Bank
The Nafcub board consists of 19 elected directors out of which 12 have been already elected unopposed. The candidates from constituencies namely Cooperative Banks are in the fray, which has a total of 318 voters.