Putting an end to weeks of speculation and legal uncertainty in the wake of the Sole Arbitrator’s award, the Cooperative Election Authority (CEA) under the Ministry of Cooperation has approved the election of the new Board of Directors of the National Federation of Fishers’ Cooperative Ltd. (FISHCOPFED), formally bringing the election process to a close.
The approval was granted under Rule 19M of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Rules, 2002, based on the recommendations submitted by the Returning Officer and South-East Delhi District Magistrate, Dr. Sravan Bagaria, IAS.
A total of 10 directors have been elected to the 14-member Board, with nine candidates securing their seats unopposed. The only contest took place in the Western Zone, where Maharashtra cooperator Prakash Marotrao Lonare defeated Premkumar Dashrath Gajbhare by 15 votes to 2. According to Lonare, around 22 members participated in the polling, while the remaining eligible voters abstained.
The newly elected Board comprises Dr. Manoj Kumar as the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) nominee, Lateef Ahmad Dar (North Zone), R.H. Gadhvi and Prakash Marotrao Lonare (West Zone), Jagpoojan Sahani (Central Zone), Katta Lingam (South Zone), Jayashree Garnaik and Sanjay Kewat (East Zone), and Rajulal Debbarma and S. Made Gowda (North-East Zone).
The 14-member Board of FISHCOPFED comprises 10 elected directors, while four seats remain vacant. Of these, three zonal seats, one each from the North, Central and South Zones, remained vacant as no nominations were received from the respective constituencies.
The Corporation Constituency has two seats. However, since the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) was the only eligible member in the constituency, Manoj Kumar of NCDC was elected unopposed to one seat, while the second seat remained vacant. In addition, one seat is reserved for a Government nominee from the Ministry of Fisheries, who is expected to be nominated on or before July 18, 2026.
The CEA has directed the Returning Officer to declare the results immediately and instructed FISHCOPFED to display the final election results on its website and notice board. According to the Returning Officer’s report, the election process was conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, and no court case arose during the conduct of the election.
Earlier, there had been speculation in cooperative circles that the declaration of the new FISHCOPFED Board’s election results could face legal uncertainty following the arbitral award dated July 9, 2026. In the award, Sole Arbitrator Kalyan Sahai Meena (Retd. IAS) declared the 2021 FISHCOPFED election process unsustainable and directed that fresh elections be conducted under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002.
However, with the Cooperative Election Authority formally approving the recommendations for the election of the Board of Directors and authorising the declaration of the results, all such apprehensions have now been laid to rest.
