Cooperative Election Reform: Streamlining Polls

New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) Cooperative Election Authority Chairperson Devendra Kumar Singh on Monday called for streamlining of the election process in cooperative societies to foster transparency.

"There is a need for standard manuals and codes of conduct for cooperative elections," Singh said addressing the first consultative meeting with State Cooperative Election Authorities (SCEA) here.

The meeting was aimed to develop a mechanism of dialogue with SCEA so that the elections in cooperative bodies are conducted in a free and fair manner and the process becomes more transparent.

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 contestants, publication of handbook for Returning Officers, election of delegates from member cooperative societies who are members in National Cooperative Societies, and other agenda received from states.

One of the agenda proposed by participating State Cooperative Election Authorities included introduction of Electronic Voting Machine in cooperative election, the ministry said in a statement.


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.

The government has brought various reforms in the cooperative sector including establishment of Cooperative Election Authority.

The 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 March 11, 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.

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

State Election Commissioners from Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra and ministry officials were present in the meeting.