The final list of candidates who have filed their nomination papers for the election of the apex body of urban cooperative banks-Nafcub has been made public on Saturday evening. The election is slated for 12th February 2024.
Some of the top leaders from state federations got elected unopposed as there were no challengers. Out of 9 seats in this category of state urban cooperative banks federations , six including H K Patil, Jyotindra Mehta, Ajay Bramhecha, Mudit Verma, K Jayavarma and Vemireddy Narasimha Reddy were elected unopposed.
The other two startling outcomes of the list are; Ananskar’s departure from the Nafcub Board and the entry of heavyweight Parvin Darekar in the fray. For the 19 seats of the board of directors, 37 nominations were filed from four different constituencies. For 9 seats reserved for State urban cooperative banks federations/ associations,11 candidates have filed their nomination papers whereas for 7 seats from UCBs, 18 nominations have been received.
Six and two nominations were filed for two seats for Credit Societies and one seat for Mahila Bank respectively. Others would have filed nominations include Sahakar Bharati National General Secretary Uday Joshi, Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank Chairman Chalasani Raghavendra Rao, Cosmos Bank Chairman Milind Kale, Pune People’s Cooperative Bank Director Subhash Mohite and many more.
After scrutiny and withdrawal, the final list of candidates in the fray, will be out tomorrow on 6th February. Mehta and other senior leaders of the sector are camping in the town to know the final names after withdrawal, as they are hoping against hope of having a consensus on the final list of candidates so that the voting could be avoided.
Meanwhile, the publication of the list of nominations has surprised many because a BJP heavyweight from Maharashtra- Pravin Darekar has filed his nomination papers from Urban Cooperative Banks constituency. Darekar is close to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
This time Vidyadhar Anaskar did not file his papers due to his calculations of not making it comfortably, say a few insiders. But he played an important role in helping Darekar in filing his papers, they add.
It is reported that Nafcub’s Chairman Emeritus and Karnataka Cabinet Minister H K Patil is very active in the election. Prior to filling the nomination papers, he called a meeting of cooperators associated with the southern zone urban cooperative banks federations at Karnataka.
In the meeting, the representatives from UCBs Federations of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana were present and Kerala UCBs Federation General Secretary Adv. K Jayavarma, Telangana UCBs federation President Vemireddy Narasimha and Karnataka UCBs Federation H K Patil himself filed their papers.
Besides, three candidates from southern zone including, Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank Chairman Raghvendra Rao, Sri Channabasavaswamy Souharda Pattana Sahakari Bank Director K Kalappa, Gangavathi Cooperative Bank Kallappa and Azad Urban Cooperative Bank Director A.M.Hidasgeri backed by H K Patil, also filed their papers from the UCBs constituency.
Meanwhile, one of the female candidates Varsha Mali, Director, Municipal Cooperative Bank told this correspondent complaining that the outgoing President Jyotindra Mehta had asked her to withdraw her nomination papers when she visited the Nafcub’s office at Delhi on Friday. “It’s democracy and everyone has a right to contest the election. I will fight the election and no one can stop me from contesting the election”, she asserted on phone.
Laughing it off, Nafcub outgoing President Jyotindra Mehta said it is wrong for her to say so as I never asked her to withdraw nomination as such. “She said she wants to work with us and I asked her as well as to others to submit their withdrawal either with me or Patil Saheb as after the final list, we could sit together to choose candidates consensually and thus avoid elections. In fact I already have withdrawal papers of many candidates as all are of the opinion that a consensus should be tried first, he stated. A little peeved at the allegation, Mehta added that it is a matter of one’s strength and anybody including Varsha Mali is free to contest.
The sector is also caught up in a fix on the issue of choosing a President for the Nafcub as given Mehta’s clout with Union Minister Amit Shah and given a slew of relief measures for the sector which was possible due to the Mehta-Shah connection, they would wish Mehta to be re-elected.
But the fact is that Mehta has already completed his two terms and therefore cannot stand for Chairman for the third term in the wake of the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act. But it has not stopped some of them from discussing the matter.
A majority of voters in the elections are from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat i.e. 195 out of 318 voters from UCB category. The Nafcub has a membership base of more than 1800 members but around 500 voters are eligible to cast their votes in the elections. It comprises voters for representatives of Urban Cooperative Banks, Women, Credit Societies and State Level UCBs Federations.
The South-West Delhi District Magistrate Lakshay Singh, IAS has been appointed as the returning officer to oversee the election process.
(With input from Ajay Jha)