The pace of the upcoming NCUI elections scheduled for November 23rd, has quickened with the appointment of a Returning Officer and fixation of October 23rd as the final cut-off date to clear dues and become a delegate of the national apex co-op body.
Of the two names sent by the Central Registrar, NCUI has chosen Sunil Kumar, Additional MD of agricultural co-operative Nafed as the Returning office for the 23rd November elections of the apex body. Kumar, an old Nafed hand is often spotted during various programs organized by Nafed in the town.
Mild mannered and suave, Kumar was an obvious choice for the NCUI GC which has entrusted its outgoing President Dr Chandra Pal Singh to have the final word on the issue. Active during the patchy days of Nafed, Kumar is said to have been side-lined by the Nafed MD when the heyday of agri-cooperative has started, said sources.
Meanwhile, NCUI has got busy with the preparation of the list of delegates. According to sources, about 250 co-operators are on its list but many of them may lose their membership if they do not clear their dues by October 23rd.
Once the list is ready, it would be handed over to the Returning Officer Sunil Kumar for finalization of voters’ list. According to a source, the nominations for elections may begin from November 16. After 2-3 days of scrutiny and withdrawal, the election will take place on November 23rd morning.
The fast pace of NCUI elections was possible after the two senior leaders-Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav and Dileep Sanghani met Union State Minister Parshottam Rupala and requested him to resolve the issue of RO.
It bears recall that NCUI has about 16 Board seats on which elections are supposed to take place. But the main contests revolve around four seats where there are too many voters as well as too many contestants.
The Multi state co-op societies are one such constituency with a huge number of voters. Pramod Kumar Singh of Uttarakhand was the winner in the last election but would he be lucky this time as well, nobody knows.
One of the IFFCO Directors from Tamil Nadu Ovr Ramachandra had also earlier evinced his interest to contest, sources reveal. Interestingly, Pramod is also on the IFFCO Board
Besides, Sahakar Bharati has a large number of voters in this constituency and sources reveal that it is planning to devise ways to grab this seat.
The clubbing together of Sugar and Labour, fisheries co-ops and several others into two constituencies is also something that makes canvassing difficult for candidates. Labour co-operators or sugar co-ops don’t know each other and find it tough to do meaningful campaigning, said an insider.