The Cooperative Election Authority held its first consultative meeting with State Cooperative Election Authorities today in New Delhi. The meeting aimed to develop a mechanism of dialogue with State Cooperative Election Authorities so that the elections in cooperative bodies are conducted in a free and fair manner and the process becomes more transparent. The meeting was chaired by Shri Devendra Kumar Singh, Chairperson, Cooperative Election Authority which saw participation of the State Election Commissioners from Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra. Shri R. K. Gupta, Vice Chairperson and Shri Alok Agarwal, Cooperative Ombudsman also participated. Shri Anand Kumar Jha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation took part in the deliberation.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Devendra Kumar Singh, Chairperson, Cooperative Election Authority said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji and guidance of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah Government has brought various reforms in the cooperative sector including establishment of Cooperative Election Authority. The Cooperative Election Authority has so far conducted 159 elections since March 2024 and is in the process of conducting 69 more such Cooperative Elections. The Cooperative Election Authority was notified on 11 March 2024 in exercise of the Centre’s powers conferred by section 45 of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act of 2002 and its amendment in 2023.

Shri Devendra Kumar Singh said that 2025 is being celebrated as  International year of Cooperatives and a lot of reforms have been brought by the Government showing its commitment to the growth of Cooperative sector. He said that the election process in Cooperative Societies need to be streamlined to foster transparency in order to make the elections in cooperative societies free and fair.

The Chairperson, Cooperative Election Authority said that there is a need for standard manuals and codes of conduct for cooperative elections. The discussion revolved around matters relating to framing of Code of Conduct for contesting candidates and Multi-State Cooperative Society (MSCs), to fix upper limit of expenditure by the contesting candidates, publication of handbook for the Returning Officers, election of delegates from member Cooperative Societies who are members in National Cooperative Societies and other agenda received from State. One of the agenda proposed by participating State Cooperative Election Authorities included introduction of Electronic Voting Machine in cooperative election.

Shri Devendra Kumar Singh also brought up the discussion on the matters related to share capital of members, use of symbols for the candidates and use of indelible inks in the cooperative elections and discussion ensued.

The CEA decided to hold the consultative committee meeting every three months to take forward the reform process in cooperative elections.

The participants from States include, the State Election Commissioner from Odisha (Shri Srikanta Prusty, State Cooperative Election Commission), Bihar (Shri Girish Shankar, Bihar State Election Authority along with Shri Kumar Shant Rakshit, Advisor, Bihar State Election Commission), Tamil Nadu (Thiru Dayanand Kataria, Commissioner, Tamil Nadu State Cooperative Societies Election Commission), Maharashtra (Shri. Anil Mahadeo Kawade, State Cooperative Election Authority Maharashtra and Shri Ashok Gade, Secretary, Maharashtra State Election Authority) and Telangana (Shri G Shrivinas Rao, Commissioner, Telangana Cooperative Election Authority)

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RK/VV/HS/PS