The National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) on Thursday evening released the final list of eligible delegates for its Governing Council (GC) election, triggering considerable discussion in cooperative circles as several prominent names were dropped while 11 new delegates were inducted into the electoral college.
The final list comprises 151 eligible delegates, one more than the provisional list of 150 released on June 16. Elections to the NCUI Governing Council are scheduled for July 15, 2026, while the nomination process begins on June 27.
Among the notable exclusions are NCCF Chairman Vishal Singh, NCDC Governing Council Member Dhananjay Singh, NAFSCOB Managing Director Bhima Subramanyam, and Sahakar Bharati National General Secretary Deepak Kumar Chaursia, who had been nominated by Biscomaun.
Others omitted from the final list include Lalchamreia (Mizoram State Cooperative Union), Jai Prakash (Delhi State Industrial Cooperative Federation), Gopal Singh Negi (UP Phal Avam Bhesaj Sahakari Sangh), Veer Pratap Singh (Indian Farmers Development Multipurpose Cooperative), Dinesh Singh (Bihar Rajya Sahakari Bhumi Vikas Bank), and Parmanhans Tripathi (Bharatiya Farmers Agro Business Development Corporation).
Indian Cooperative spoke to several cooperative leaders whose names were excluded. Sources indicated that in many cases the rejection stemmed from a procedural issue involving the requirement for a fresh Board resolution authorising the delegate after the NCUI election notification was issued.
In the case of Dhananjay Singh, sources said the UP State Cooperative Union had passed its Board resolution before the election notification instead of afterwards, making the nomination ineligible during scrutiny.
A similar issue is understood to have affected Bhima Subramanyam’s nomination from NAFSCOB, which is currently under an Administrator. Sources also indicated that Vishal Singh’s nomination was accompanied by an earlier Board resolution rather than one passed after the notification.
Although the Election Authority has not officially communicated individual reasons for each rejection, enquiries by Indian Cooperative suggest that the absence of a fresh post-notification Board resolution was a common factor behind several exclusions.
The final electoral college also includes 11 new delegates. They are P. Mohanan Master (Kerala State Cooperative Bank), Meghnad Pal (West Bengal SCARDB), Dr K. Rajendra, IAS (Administrator, Karnataka SCARDB), Sumit (Administrator-cum-Returning Officer, Delhi UCB Federation), Balasaheb Sanap (Maharashtra Cooperative Housing Finance Corporation), Sumit (Administrator, Delhi State Fruit & Vegetable Consumer Cooperative), Jai Prakash (Delhi State Industrial Cooperative Federation), Binod Ashish (Atulyam Multi State Multipurpose Cooperative Society), Kadubhau Kale (Sant Nagebaba Multi State Cooperative), G.R. Ravichandran (Om Sakthi Kalikambal Multistate Cooperative Housing Society), and Sanjay Bhende (Nagpur Nagarik Sahakari Bank).
Sources further said that several institutions had sought inclusion in the final list through representations to the Election Authority. Rajkot Nagrik Sahakari Bank was among them but reportedly could not be accommodated as it failed to meet the AGM-related eligibility criteria. With the electoral college now finalised, attention shifts to the nomination process, setting the stage for a closely watched NCUI Governing Council election.
(With inputs from Rohit Gupta, Principal Correspondent)
