As the polls of the apex body of fishery cooperatives- fishcopfed are getting closer, leaders have begun indulging in allegation and counter allegation. The outgoing directors, whose names got rejected in the voters list, have made several allegations against the outgoing Chairman T Prasad Dora.
One of the outgoing directors from Bihar, Rishikesh Kashyap has made an accusation against T. Prasad Dora of giving Rs 10 lakh as a bribe to the returning officer for rigging the election in his favor.
The outgoing Vice-President Ramdas P. Sandhe has sought help from Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh because his name has been removed from the voter list during the scrutiny.
Talking to Indian Cooperative correspondent Sandhe said, “My name was removed in a pre-planned manner. I have written a letter to the Union Agriculture Minister and also met Giriraj Singh and asked them to intervene in the matter.
“Several outgoing directors look upon the fishcopfed as their personal fiefdom. We will fight against this and if needed we will also knock at the door of court”, he added.
It is reported that the list of final voters has been made public and 22 voters are eligible to cast their votes during the election. The names of some outgoing directors and the outgoing Vice-President Ramdas Sandhe were removed from the voter list by the RO during the scrutiny.
Sources said their names have been removed on various grounds including non-payment of outstanding dues.
Joseph Baxla, Assistant Registrar, Delhi has been appointed as the returning officer.
Though there are about 109 district and state level fishery co-ops as members of Fishcopfed, quite a few of them are under liquidation. On an average, out of 90 active fishery societies only 46 societies had filed for becoming a voter. After the scrutiny, only 22 names were found to be eligible.
According to the election schedule, the filling of nominations from candidates contesting for elections to vacancies will be up to 25th February 2021 till 12:30 PM. The scrutiny of nominations and publication of the list of valid nominations will be published on 25th Feb till 3:00 PM.
Withdrawal and publication of the final list of candidates after withdrawal will be published on the same day after the list of valid nominations is published.
The polling if needed will be on 26th February 2021 and counting of votes and declaration of results will be announced immediately after the polling is over.
