Mehta-Patil Panel sweeps elections; Board meets today to elect Chairman

As predicted in this column, the ‘Sahakar Se Samruddhi 24’ panel led by the outgoing President Jyotindra Mehta and H K Patil has made a clean sweep in the Nafcub election held on Monday.

The counting of votes was done immediately after the voting held on Monday but the results will be officially announced on Tuesday i.e today because in the wake of the newly formed Cooperative Election Authority, the returning officer is supposed to take approval of the authority before announcing the result, said a cooperator.

The voting was held for seven seats and all won by the candidates backed by the Mehta-Patil panel. The lone woman candidate Varsha Mali, who contested election independently, got only 45 votes out of 230-votes cast.

During the voting, Mali left no stone unturned in wooing the voters and urged them to support her. Her colleague, the director of Municipal Cooperative Bank and others were seen supporting Mali till the end of voting and encouraging her.

Besides, another candidate Subhash Mohite, who announced his withdrawal a day prior to the voting, got 24 votes. On the day of voting, he himself urged voters to support candidates backed by the HK Patil-Mehta panel.

On the day of voting, the NCUI headquarters was filled with cooperators associated with the urban cooperative banking sector. Even Sahakar Bharati President D N Thakur, National Organizing Secretary Sanjay Pachpor and others were there to cheer their candidates.

Interestingly, Sahakar Bharati National General Secretary Uday Joshi has again retained his position as director on the board of Nafcub from the credit co-operative constituency.

The candidates supported by the Mehta-Patil panel are Milind Kale, the Chairman of Cosmos Cooperative Bank who got 210 votes while Chairman of Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank Chalasani Raghavendra Rao received 211 votes.

K Kalappa, Director, Sri Channabasavaswamy Souharda Pattana Sahakari Bank and Gautambhai Vyas, Chairman, Bardoli Nagrik Sahakari Bank received 202 and 205 votes respectively.

Similarly, Gianchand Garg, Chairman of Akola Janata Commercial Cooperative Bank and Kanjibhai Bhalala, Director, Varachha Cooperative Bank got 212 and 188 votes respectively. And A.M. Hindasgeri, Director, Azad Urban Cooperative Bank received 194 votes.

The election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman will be held today at the NCUI headquarters. The cooperative banking sector is also caught up in a fix on the issue of choosing a President for the Nafcub as given Mehta’s clout with Union Minister Amit Shah and given a slew of relief measures for the sector which was possible due to the Mehta-Shah connection, they would wish Mehta to be re-elected as President.

But the fact is that Mehta has already completed his two terms and therefore cannot stand for Chairman for the third term in the wake of the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act. But it has not stopped some of them from discussing the matter.

The cooperators present on the occasion of voting argue that Mehta has completed only eight years as the President of Nafcub and can be elected for the next two years. Keep glued to this column to know the final outcome.