Cooperative Election Authority tasked with ensuring transparent polls: Govt

The Cooperative Election Authority (CEA) is responsible for conducting elections in cooperatives transparently and weed out vested interest and opacity in the electoral process, Union Cooperation Secretary Ashish Kumar Bhutani on Tuesday said.

He was addressing the First Foundation Year of the CEA here.

CEA Chairman Devendra Kumar Singh, Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies Rabindra Kumar Agrawal, Vice Chairman of CEA R K Gupta, and senior officers of Ministry of Cooperation and heads and representatives of Multi-State Cooperative Societies attended the event, according to an official statement.

In his address, Bhutani said things are definitely moving in the right direction in the cooperative sector.

The CEA was formed after the passage of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act 2023 by Parliament, he added.

Bhutani said it was a very comprehensive amendment to the Act by the Centre and its process for amendment spanned for over 12 years.

The secretary said that the "CEA is formed to protect the core cooperative principle of democratic control of the members of the cooperative society".

The authority is responsible for conducting the elections in cooperatives in a transparent manner and overseeing the electoral process in multi-state cooperative societies, ensuring transparency and accountability while conducting the election in Cooperative Societies, he added.

Bhutani said the "Authority stands to weed out vested interest, opacity in elections, and infusion of new faces into the cooperative societies".

There has been a new beginning with the elections being conducted under the supervision of the District Magistrates and District Collectors, which has made the elections pristine and added credibility to the process, he noted.

The Secretary said that "they are looking forward to expanding the scope as well as the functioning of the CEA so that they are able to smoothly conduct the upcoming elections".

Bhutani urged the CEA to focus on training and capacity-building programmes for stakeholders and Returning Officers for effective implementation of the provisions of Cooperative Law.

With the active involvement/participation of the members of the Cooperative Societies, the Cooperatives can achieve cooperative principles, particularly in the election process.