The election of Assam State Cooperative Apex Bank (ACAB) scheduled for May 21 is passing through many ifs and buts in the wake of surging Covid 19 cases.
A section of the government is of the view that since there are over 2800 eligible voters and it may not be possible to observe the Covid protocols in the true spirit in the given situation, revealed a top official of the bank to the Indian Cooperative correspondent.
Meanwhile, the list of successful nominations announced last week, revealed that Chief Minister of the state Himanta Biswa Sarma (who is a candidate for a berth on the Board) may have to face voting on 21st May, if the backroom manipulations fail to fructify.
The list also revealed that MLA Ramendra Narayan Kalita’s nomination papers were rejected.
It is reported that 28 nominations were filed out of which 10 were cancelled during the scrutiny including the nominations of MLA of Guwahati West constituency, Ramendra Narayan Kalita on the grounds of not attending the Annual General Meetings. A few nomination papers were cancelled because of outstanding dues.
According to the final list, the candidates are to be elected in eight categories including from Individual category (unreserved) three candidates to be elected and five are standing. Interestingly Assam Chief Minister is fighting the election from this category. Whereas from Individual (Women), GPSS (Reserved), Other coop (unreserved) one candidate is to be elected and from GPSS (Unreserved) two to be elected.
The board comprises 11 directors, out of which three have been elected unopposed and 15 candidates are in the fray for 8 seats including the high-profile cooperative leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The Chairman In-Charge and Vice-Chairman Biswajit Phukan (MLA), Assam State Cooperative Union Chairman Kiran Kakati and Banashree Goswami have been elected unopposed.
According to the announced schedule, the voting is scheduled for 21st May and the counting will be done on 23rd May. Results are to be announced the same day but there is speculation that due to Covid-19, the government may postpone the voting for a few months and allow the existing board to continue.
The tenure of the current board of the bank is ending on 26th May 2021 and the bank had to start the election process and elect a new board before that, going by the extant co-operative acts, he added.
The Assam Co-operative Apex Bank Ltd. (ACAB) was established in 1948. The Bank has a wide network of 67 branches and 6 Zonal Offices, spread throughout the state the State providing banking products and other related services to the general public of Assam.
The final list of candidates is given below.
