75 per cent turnout recorded; Results to be declared today
The election for the 21-member executive committee of the Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce & Industries (FJCCI) concluded on Sunday on a high note with the two teams claiming total rout of the other and complete dominance in the committee. The nine hours of voting duration recorded 75 per cent turnout making candidates happy about the winning probabilities.
“Voter turnout at the end of the day stands at 1842. We are happy with the voter turnout and that everything happened smoothly,” said election officer lalit Kedia. The ballot boxes have been stored under tight security at Chamber Bhawan and were sealed before taking them to the strong room. Notably, 2431 members of the federation have voting rights in the election for executive committee.
Candidates’ fate will become clear till late Monday evening after following three-stages and 15 rounds of counting process. The marathon counting process will begin at 11am with the bundling of 20 ballots each and six bundles of ballots will be counted for verification of the ballots in the bundles. The last stage will be manual counting of votes. However, unlike earlier occasions the committee will announce only final results. “We will not announce results for every round of counting completed. There will a final declaration of candidates making to the executive committee,” added Kedia.
Turnout at the election venue pleased both the teams—Team Pawan Bajaj and Team Ratan Modi-- who claimed of a clean sweep in the election. Renowned businessman and presidential candidate of Team Bajaj, Pawan Bajaj, praised the arrangements made for the election and transparency in the process. Bajaj however advocated austerity measures in the election campaign.
“We are making clean sweep in the election and we will ensure that a favorable environment is provided a businessmen,” said Bajaj towards the end of the polls.
Earlier, voting started at 9am as the candidates and their supporters waited along the aisle created to welcome voters of the FJCCI at the polling venue, Marwari Bhawan in Harmu. Cards, banners, placards, posters—candidates, their ardent supporters, hired men and even family members made the last ditch effort to effect a swing in their favour as a voter proudly walked towards the barricaded polling zone.
Despite the turnout the FJCCI election seemed more about customary voting than issues based democratic event for business communities. For a voter, especially an owner of a small establishment, exercising franchise is a matter of right and a reason enough to turn-up to vote.
“The federation has become an organization for big businessmen. They don’t do anything for smaller businessmen. I voted because I have a voting right and nothing much was on my mind, no issues,” said a textile businessman, Gopal Dulukia.
Notwithstanding the turnout, affiliated bodies exhibited a lukewarm response to the election process. While the compilation of figures of affiliated bodies was still underway sources in the FJCCI confided that only 32 affiliated bodies of a total of 72 took part in the election of the executive committee. The apathy of the federation was highlighted by two affiliated bodies—Jamtara Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Commerce Mihijam—in written however few affiliated bodies differed on the issue of step-motherly treatment being given to smaller associations.
“There are many ways to communicate problems to FJCCI. I don’t know how many times they have explored alternatives to the conventional medium of communication but my experiences with chamber have been satisfying and it will be irrespective of the team that gains control of executive committee,” said president of Chirkunda Chamber of Commerce, Mahavir Sharma. The voters praised the arrangements made for enhancing voting experience.