“A few upsets in the re-election of IFFCO Directors could not be ruled out” was what Indian Cooperative wrote a couple of days ago. The large number of nominations and the subsequent intense negotiations point to this direction only.
For the 21 Directors from among 12 constituencies, 57 nominations have been filed charging up the election scenario unlike the usual cooperative elections which are based more on consensus than competition.
Indian Cooperative has learnt that intense lobbying has been launched by the Directors from the outgoing board to “convince the detractors” to withdraw.
Two days- 24 and 25 April are there for the withdrawal of nominations. A final picture and the final list of contestants would emerge after that. As of now IFFCO notice board at its headquarters at N Delhi displays 57 candidates’ name who have filed nominations for the coveted position on IFFCO Board.
Some candidates are relaxing, however, away from intense lobbying as their re-election is almost certain. In the case of single nomination from the constituency it is a situation of “battle-won”.
Such worthies are Balvinder Singh Nakia from Punjab, K Sriniwas Gowda from Karnataka, Sheesh Pal Singh from Uttar Pradesh, Vithalbhai H Rahadia from Gujarat and Pramod Kumar Singh from Uttrakhand.
The main contest revolves around cooperative societies below Rs one lakh and above one lakh. There are three seats in the former category while 8 in the latter.
One of the nominees Mr R Ramchandran thanked Indian Cooperative for enabling him to file nomination. His query on Indian Cooperative caught the attention of one of the top cooperative brasses at IFFCO who guided him on how to go about it. He filed nomination from constituency number 3 where 4 contestants are in race for one seat.