The elections for the IFFCO Board positions have entered an interesting phase with many heavyweights from across the country, taking a plunge. Tuesday being the last date, a total of 97 nominations were filed by 50 candidates, according to a notice pasted on the Notice Board at IFFCO headquarters in Saket in Delhi.
There is, however, good news for four outgoing Directors as they had no challenger. Though scrutiny is yet to take place, they can be predicted to have won the elections uncontested. Their names are Jagdeep Singh Nakai from Punjab, Umesh Tripathi from Uttarakhand, Prahlad Singh from Haryana, and Prem Chand Munshi from Bihar.
Meanwhile, four women, including the outgoing director Sadhana Jadhav, and three others, namely Dr. Varsha Kasturkar, Rupali Vighne, and Saroj Kharra, filed their nomination papers for a seat reserved for a woman on the board of IFFCO.
Several high-profile BJP leaders, including Gujcomasol Vice-Chairman and Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah loyalist Bipin Patel, the grandson of eminent cooperator from Maharashtra Late Shankarrao Kolhe – Vivek Kolhe, BJP’s Chikkodi (Karnataka) Lok Sabha candidate Annasaheb Jolle, and others, have also filed their nomination papers.
It is reported that in Gujarat, the BJP top leadership of the state had endorsed the name of Bipin Patel, but the outgoing director Jayesh Radadiya also filed his nomination papers along with Patel, Pankaj Kumar, and Vijay Zatakia.
It is learned that there may be an intense fight for the constituencies falling in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, as 12 candidates filed their nomination papers. Only two directors are to be elected from these two seats.
The IFFCO’s former functionary Rajendra Kharra, who is said to have played an important role in creating roadblocks for the outgoing director Mangi Lal Danga to become an RGB member, is contesting from the Rajasthan seat. Seven candidates filed their nomination papers from Rajasthan, but it is being rumoured that five will withdraw their papers. The only rival of Rajendra Kharra may be Sarsadi Gram Sewa Sahakari Samiti’s Madan Gopal. There are 75 voters from Rajasthan.
Another constituency that may see an intense fight is Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh. In the said constituency, five candidates filed their papers. This time it may be tough for the outgoing director and Congress leader Govind Singh’s son Amit Pratap Singh to make it to the board of IFFCO.
The NCUI board member Arun Tomar, Rishiraj Sisodia, Kaushal Sharma, and a familiar face in the Chhattisgarh cooperative circles, Shashikant Divedi, filed their papers from the MP-Chhattisgarh constituency.
Besides, Vivek Kolhe and Nakul Kadu filed their papers from the Maharashtra-Telangana and Goa constituency, whereas from Karnataka, Annasaheb Jolle filed his papers against the outgoing director K Srinivasa Gowda.
In the Odisha-West Bengal constituency, Santimoy Dey filed his papers against the outgoing director Simachal Padhy. But the final picture would emerge on May 3rd, 2024, when the final list of contesting candidates will be published.
In the elections for the board of directors of IFFCO, for 8 seats reserved for the state marketing cooperative federations, 10 candidates filed their nomination papers.
The IFFCO board consists of 21 directors, out of which eight are to be elected from state cooperative marketing federations, 12 from general seats, and one from a women reserved seat.
The election for the Board of Directors will take place on May 9th, 2024, with the counting of votes and declaration of results scheduled for the same day. The election of office bearers is also slated for May 9th, 2024, following the declaration of results of the board members’ election.
It bears recalling that the current election is being conducted by the Election Authority and a Returning Officer appointed by the Centre is being assisted by two Assistant ROs.
