The elections of over 320 Uttar Pradesh Cooperative land development banks are underway and the reports are that most of these banks have been captured by the candidates of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party.
The election process was marred by the use of administrative and political pressure, physical force and violence by the ruling BJP against opposition candidates.
Several Samajwadi Party candidates filed their nomination papers but at the last-minute scores of them had to withdraw their names. For instance, NCUI Chief and Rajya Sabha MP from SP Chandra Pal Yadav’s brother Shishupal Singh from Orai city in Jalaun district stunned his supporters by suddenly withdrawing his nomination papers.
Talking to Indian Cooperative former director of Ghaziabad District Central Cooperative Bank Chaudhary and SP leader Yogendra Singh said, “Samajwadi Party workers failed to file the nomination papers under political pressure exerted on candidates by the leaders of BJP. Leaders of SP were scared to file their nomination papers under political as well as administrative pressure”.
It is worth mentioning that most of these banks are in financial difficulty.
BJP candidate Anil Singh has been elected as the Chairman/branch representative of Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Land Development Bank in Jhinjhak block whereas Ramraj another BJP candidate was elected unopposed as the Chairman of Akbarpur block and from Derapur block. Yet another BJP member Mahesh Singh Bhadoria has been elected as the Chairman of UP Land Development Bank. All these blocks fall in the Kanpur Dehat district.
The land development banks in Azamgarh District of Uttar Pradesh have been also captured by BJP. Hanumant Singh elected from Branch Phulpur, Basudev Yadav elected from Branch Fariha. Ramakant Rai elected from Branch Lalganj tehsil, Kant Vijay Singh elected from Branch Budhanpur tehsil. As soon as they were elected unopposed as the branch representatives, BJP Lalganj District President Rishi Kant Rai congratulated them.
Thakur Kripal Singh (BJP) has been elected unopposed as the Chairman of UP Cooperative Land Development Bank, Nagina in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. He has been elected for 35 years.
Besides, from Manjhanpur town in Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh, Advocate Nar Naryana Mishra has been also elected unopposed as the Chairman of Land Development Bank. He has been elected as the Chairman for the 11th consecutive term. Whereas from Khalilabad city in Kabir Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, Narendra Bharti has been elected unopposed as the Chairman.
Rajiv Kumar of BJP was elected unopposed in the election of Branch Representative of Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Village Development Bank Limited Jhinjhana town in Shamli district. Scores of nominations were filed by the candidates but all withdrew their names.
In Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh, BJP leaders have captured all the nine branches in the district. All candidates have been elected unopposed as Chairmen/Branch representatives.
In Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh all the branches of the Land Development bank are captured by Bharatiya Janata Party. All the 11 seats of Jhansi division were won unopposed by BJP candidates.
Readers would recall that, BJP and Samajwadi Party workers had a fight during the filing of nominations in the cooperative bank election in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, senior co-operator Shish Pal Singh raised the issue with IFFCO’s Vice Chairman and senior BJP leader Dileep Sanghani and sought his help for easing the situation.
The scene was reminiscent of the days when the Samajwadi Party would be in power. A cooperator innocent of political affiliation said history repeats itself. It is said scores of court cases related to the elections have also been reported from the state.