The National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) headquarters wore a festive look on Saturday as voting for the election to its Governing Council transformed the campus into a virtual “Cooperative Kumbh.”
From early morning, the venue buzzed with activity as cooperative leaders, delegates and representatives from across the country converged to participate in one of the most closely watched elections in the Indian cooperative movement. Delegates were seen enthusiastically greeting, encouraging and rallying behind their respective candidates.
The election turned into much more than a routine polling exercise. The NCUI campus emerged as the meeting point for some of the biggest names in India’s cooperative sector. Senior leaders including Dileep Sanghani, Mohanbhai Kundariya, Bipin Patel, Uday Joshi, Jyotindra Mehta, Laxmi Das, H.K. Patil, D.N. Thakur and several other prominent cooperators were seen interacting with delegates, lending the event an atmosphere rarely witnessed in NCUI elections.
Polling was held for 10 contested seats of the Governing Council, while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on Sunday (today) at the NCUI Auditorium in New Delhi.
If the voting trends witnessed on Saturday are any indication, the results are expected to broadly mirror the projections carried earlier by Indian Cooperative. In the National Federations constituency, Dileep Sanghani (IFFCO), Bipin Patel (KRIBHCO), Vishal Singh (NCCF), Meenesh Shah (NDDB) and Mohanbhai Kundariya (NAFED) are expected to secure the five seats.
Similarly, in the State Cooperative Unions and Union Territories constituency, Jeena Potsangbam of Manipur and Vinay Kumar Shahi of Bihar are widely expected to emerge victorious.
The contest for the State-level Cooperative Federations and Associations (Western and Southern India) seat also appeared largely one-sided, with veteran Karnataka cooperator and former BJP MP Annasaheb Jolle enjoying overwhelming support and widely expected to emerge victorious.
Among all the contests, however, two seats attracted exceptional attention. The first was the State Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) and Credit Societies Federations constituency, where seasoned cooperative leaders H.K. Patil and Sunil Gupta locked horns in what emerged as one of the closest and most keenly fought battles of the election.
The second was the Multi-State Cooperative Societies constituency, where six candidates were in the fray. BJP MLC Sanjay Bhende was widely seen as the frontrunner and is expected to emerge victorious, according to delegates and election observers.
With polling now over, all eyes are on Sunday’s counting, which is expected to determine not only the composition of the new Governing Council but also set the stage for the election of the next NCUI President.
Irrespective of the outcome, Saturday’s unprecedented congregation of cooperative leaders from across the country reaffirmed NCUI’s position as the nerve centre of India’s cooperative movement, turning its Governing Council election into a veritable “Cooperative Kumbh.”
