The elections of Nafed, which has bounced back practically from death bed promise to be interesting. While V R Boda, the outgoing Chairman is said to be inclined to play a second innings, Bijendra Singh, sources say, has also thrown down the gauntlet.
It is going to be tough for NCUI President Chandra Pal Singh Yadav and both of them owe allegiance to him. “He cannot displease either of them. He plans to wait and see if one of them himself offers to bow out”, said a source close to Yadav. “But he can be decisive if a solution does not come up on its one”, the source added.
Dileep Sanghani, who is said to have played a crucial role in reviving NAFED on the strength of his proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is no longer in race. “He cannot be as he is already holding offices in two multi-state co-ops-IFFCO and NAFSCOB”, informed a senior cooperator. Sanghani was last week elected Vice-Chairman of the world’s largest fertilizer cooperative IFFCO. Sanghani, however, wishes to remain on the board of Directors.
But before that, the elections of Directors are taking place at full throttle. While the final elections are slated for 23rd May 2019 at the NCUI Auditorium, the process of nominations, scrutiny and withdrawal are going on.
Giving details K.K.Ravindran, MD of National Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks Federation (NCARDB) and the RO of this election said “With the filing of nomination papers on 20th May, scrutiny of the same will be held on 21st May and the publications of valid nominations will take place on the day of scrutiny itself ”.
Ramesh Galhotra, Deputy Manager, NAFED who is assisting the Returning officer informed that, “There are 429 members that are eligible to cast their votes during the election. Thousands of cooperative societies are associated with Nafed. The board is comprised of 21 directors in which 10 directors will be elected from federations, 7 from cooperative Societies and the rest from others”, Galhotra said.
The board shall consist of; one nominee each of the State Level General Purpose Cooperative Marketing Federations excluding UTs admitted under bye law 4 (a)(i) which has contributed at least Rs 50 lakh individually as equity through admission/additional contribution, one director if eligible from North Eastern states including Sikkim and apex level marketing societies of the Union Territories registered under bye law 4 (a)(ii) to be elected on the basis of the criteria laid down at (a) above.
One director is to be elected by members admitted under bye-laws 4(a)(iii), seven directors by members admitted under bye law 4 (a)(iv) from amongst themselves. There will be one nominee of the Government of India and one nominee of the National Cooperative Consumers Federation.
There are five zones- Maharashtra and Gujarat fall in Western Zone, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh fall in Northern zone. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep and Goa states come in Southern Zone and Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh in Central Zone.
The last zone i.e. Eastern Zone is comprised of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh and Jharkhand state.