The final list after scrutiny and withdrawal for the elections of Himachal Pradesh based Kangra Central Cooperative Bank has come out on Wednesday evening. 51 candidates are in the race for the 14 seats. A majority of them belong to the BJP fold.
The list clearly shows that there will be intense fighting for over 14 seats out of 16 posts of elected directors on the board of the bank. Meanwhile, from Keylong seat Champa Chhering and from Amb seat Pritam Singh have been elected unopposed as there were no rivals against them.
The main fight is for Baijnath seat where nine candidates are in the race. Several high-profile leaders who are in the race include Congress Ex MLA (Hamirpur) Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Kangra District BJP Secretary Kulbash Chand, BJP leader Thakur Atma Prakash and others.
It is learnt that the outgoing Chairman Dr Rajeev Bhardwaj is not contesting election. There is speculation that he would join the board as the government nominee and from there he can capture the top post.
Besides, former Chairman Jagdish Sapehia who belongs to Congress has also filed his nomination papers from Bhawarna town in Kangra District. The incumbent director Ranjit Rana is contesting against Sapehia and he claims to defeat Sapehia comfortably.
Talking to Indian Cooperative Sapehia has accused the present board of violating the norms and taking the bank on the wrong track. “I am sure that I will win the election as voters are in favour of me. The present government failed to organize the election on time”, he added.
The total number of voters are 1908 but only 1585 are eligible to cast their votes in the election which is slated for 30th September 2020. The scrutiny of nomination papers was done on 19th September 2020 and the candidates were allowed to withdraw their names till 23rd September 2020.
The board of the bank comprises of 21 directors, out of which 16 directors are elected from 16 zones (Rait, N/Bagwan, Nurpur, Indora, Bhawarna, Baijnath, Dehra, Pargpur, Nadaun, Hamirpur, Gagret, Amb, Una, Kullu, Banjar and Keylong), 3 government nominee, 1 State Registrar and 1 representative from HP State Co-op Bank.
From the Una Zone three candidates, Gagret three, Dehra three, Nurpur Three, Bhawarna five, Baijnath nine, Indora four, Nadaun two, Hamirpur four, Rait four, Pargpur three, Nagrota Bagwan three, Kullu three, Banjar two candidates are in the race.
Readers would recall that in April 2018 the registrar of cooperative societies in Himachal Pradesh had suspended the elected board of the directors of the bank for committing various irregularities. The then Chairman Jagdish Sapehia went to court against the suspension of BoD in 2018. The High Court of HP had dismissed his petition on 25th October 2018.