A dozen and a half strong team of co-operators from India has left for Seoul to support the candidature of Kribhco Chairman Chandra Pal Singh in the ICA AP elections and to attend the World Cooperative Congress.
Biscomaun Chairman Sunil Kumar Singh who is a social media enthusiast was one of the first to pose for photographs after boarding the flight for Seoul. He as well as Chandra Pal Singh will represent Kribhco, which has about four participants at the Assembly.
The largest team is from IFFCO, which consists of 8 members and is being led by Dileep Sanghani. Some of the first-time Directors such as Ovr Ramachandran and Sadhana Jadav are part of the IFFCO team. Tarun Bhargava is the Chief coordinator of not only this team but also that of the election campaign. The idea was very well captured by Nafed Chairman Bijender Singh when he said that it may be Chandra Pal’s election but it is IFFCO that is fighting it.
NCUI has also a team of four members including the CE Sudhir Mahajan, Ved Prakash Setia, Savitri Singh, and one more. Bhima Subramaniyam, Nafscob MD is also part of the Indian team.
There are three days of the program of ICA AP starting with the 28th when the meetings of various committees are slated. On 29th there is a board meeting of ICA AP and on the 30th there is General Assembly as well as elections for the new Board. By the same evening (30th) one can know the results of the elections.
ICA’s World Co-op Congress begins on the 1st of December and will continue for three days till the 3rd of the month.
It bears recall that India’s well-known co-operator Dr. Chandra Pal Singh Yadav has thrown himself into the ring and is contesting for the top post of ICA Asia-Pacific. Japan’s Chitose Arai is his rival.
Indian Cooperative has gathered that among the 239 votes spread among 28 countries, support for Chandra Pal is swelling from many countries. China which has 24 votes is said to have pledged its support to Chandra Pal. Similarly, Nepal which is India’s neighbour has also pledged its support.
A day or two before the voting, the actual scene would emerge, said a source adding the polling is going to be lowkey due to the Corona scare. Polling would be online through electronic voting.
ICA has put a cap of maximum of 25 votes for a country. Countries like India, Nepal, Japan, South Korea, Iran and Philippines have 25 votes each while China has 24 votes. Smaller countries have lesser number of votes.