The election held last week for the third largest Urban Cooperative Bank of India Shamrao Vithal Cooperative (SVC) Bank hit a new low when charges and counter charges of malpractices were leveled by candidates.
The polling is over and the election results of the board of directors are expected to be announced on 22nd June on the occasion of the bank’s 112th Annual General Meeting, sources say.
The voting was held last Sunday across 80 voting centers set-up for the purpose. The bank has more than a lakh members with voting rights. The details of percentage of voter turnout were not made available to Indian Cooperative despite several requests.
The incumbent chairman of the bank Udaykumar P. Gurkar who is again in the race has drawn flak from his detractors who accused the present board of indulging in wrong practices. On condition of anonymity, one of the directors who is contesting election independently said “Allegations and counter- allegations leveled by candidates have become the hall mark of this election. Sullying each other’s image on social media was the order of the day among these cooperators, he said.
Soon after the election when this correspondent phoned Ajit E. Venugoplan, Managing Director of SVC Bank he refused to share any details saying “I don’t have details related to the election” and slammed the phone. Venugopalan had no answer, however, when this correspondent reminded him of stipulations of the MSCS Act which mandate publishing the names of successful candidates on the website of co-op organizations. The website of SVC remains silent on election details.
The MD also failed to share the contact details of returning officer appointed to oversee the election.
Other sources of SVC, however, informed that the retired official Subhash Patil was appointed as the returning officer. After scrutiny and withdrawal- 17 candidates from General category, 3 from Women Category and 2 from SC/ST Category were in the fray. These are the three categories for which polls have taken place.
Among a total of 22 candidates in the fray , there are 15 candidates who are fighting on Panel while the remaining 7 candidates are fighting independently. The bank’s board comprises of 15 directors in which 12 are to elected from General Category, 2 from Women and 1 from SC/ST Category.
It bears recall that SVC occupies a place of pride among urban cooperative banks in the country as it stands next to Saraswat and Cosmos Banks in terms of business volumes.
Readers may know that SVC Bank has achieved a total business mix of Rs 25,000 crore in the Financial Year 2017-18 and earned a net profit to the tune of 132 crore. Bank is having more than 190 branches in about 10 states.