With the release of the final list for the election of the board of directors of the fertilizer cooperative giant IFFCO on Friday, 20 candidates are left in the fray for seven seats from different constituencies.
Meanwhile, as predicted in these columns, the outgoing Vice-Chairman Balvir Singh was also elected unopposed as as Vijay Sharma withdrew his nomination papers in his favour.
Those who have already elected unopposed are Dileep Sanghani, J Ganesan, Mara Ganga Reddy, P P Nagi Reddy, Rajendra Kumar, Sudhansh Pant, Alok Singh, Balmiki Tripathi, Jagdeep Singh Nakai, Umesh Tripathi, Prahlad Singh, Prem Chand Munshi, and Vivek Kolhe.
The fights for Gujarat, Karnataka, Women seat, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh and Odisha-West Bengal are going to be quite intense with rivals vowing to take on each other. Several outgoing Directors are finding it difficult to stage a comeback.
From Gujarat, the other two heavyweights, Gujcomasol Vice-Chairman Bipin Patel and outgoing director Jayeshbhai Radadiya, are in the fray. However, it is told that the Gujarat BJP has given a mandate in favour of Patel and released a whip to the district heads to ensure voters cast their votes in favour of Patel in the election. There are 182 voters from Gujarat, and Patel is said to have majority in his favour. Third candidate Pankaj Kumar changed his mind in the last minute and decided to continue in the fray, though his opponents claim Kumar will not get more than 15 votes.
In the Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh constituency, the outgoing director and veteran Congress leader Govind Singh’s son, Amit Pratap Singh, is seeking the next term as a director. However, this time it will be difficult for him to win the election as both states are governed by the BJP, which has already released a whip supporting the Gwalior (Gramin) district BJP President Kaushal Sharma.
The Sawai Singh Sisodiya grandson Rishiraj Sisodia is also contesting from the MP-Chhattisgarh constituency, but it is early to comment on his candidature as his opponents claim that he joined the BJP a few days back to win the IFFCO election, and BJP has already given its mandate in favor of Kaushal Sharma.
In the Rajasthan constituency, four candidates including Kripa Ram Chaudhari, Madan Gopal, Om Prakash Mehta, and Ramnivas Garhwal are in the fray, but there will be an intense fight between Kripa Ram Chaudhari and Madan Gopal.
In Rajasthan, Rajendra Kharra, who played an important role in creating roadblocks for Mangilal Danga during RGB elections had also filed his papers but it got rejected in scrutiny. Gopal is said to be from the Danga’s group.
This time, the fight for the outgoing director Simachal Padhy is not easy because an old hand associated with IFFCO in the past, Santimoy Dey of West Bengal, is in the fray as his rival and he is leaving no stone unturned to defeat Padhy from.
Besides, from Karnataka, two heavyweights, former MLA K Srinivasa Gowda and BJP Lok Sabha candidate Annasaheb Jolle, are in the fray. This seat may be called a hot seat because in the state Congress is in rule, and at the center, it is ruled by BJP, and it is yet to be seen whether Gowda will retain his seat or not.
Three candidates, including outgoing director Sadhana Jadhav, Varsha Kasturkar from Osmnabad, and Saroj Kharra, wife of Rajendra Kharra, are in the fray for a seat reserved for women on the board of IFFCO. There are 50 voters for the women’s seat, with the maximum votes from Maharashtra, i.e., 21 votes, and the rest from Rajasthan, Haryana, and North Eastern states.
In the constituency, Kerala-Tamil Nadu, three candidates are in the race including K P Baby, S Shakthvel, and Sumesh A.
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.