The newly-formed Odisha State Cooperative Election Commission (OSCEC) has initiated preparations to conduct elections to the cooperative institutions in the State. The last elections to the cooperative bodies were held in 2007 under the supervision of the Registrar of Cooperative Societie
State Cooperative Election Commissioner Rabi Narayan Senapati on Wednesday addressed the first State-level preparatory meeting here which was attended by Commissioner-cum-Secretary Department of Cooperation (DoC) Bishnupada Sethi, Registrar of Cooperative Societies Pradpita Kumar Patnaik and other concerned senior officials.
The meeting took stock of the availability of ballot boxes, preparation of electoral rolls, ballot papers, identification of polling personnel and availability of polling stations. locations of polling stations also came up for discussion at length.
Provision of electoral rolls would be made by the chief executives of the cooperative societies as per the amended OCS Act-1962, said an official.
Many cooperative bodies have their own premises, where polling stations can be set up, but in cases of others having no suitable premises, places would be identified for polling stations, the official added.
The meeting also discussed the issue of manpower to be engaged as Election Officers and Assistant Election Officers and, Presiding and Polling Officers. Keeping in view the large-scale vacancies in the field level and conducting election being a time-bound process, the meeting discussed conduct of polling phase-wise, said official sources.
According to the sources, in the first phase, polling would be held for 10,000 plus primary cooperative societies in the State. These cooperative institutions would have to amend their bylaws in accordance with the amendments brought in the Odisha Cooperative Societies (OCS) Act-1962.
In the second phase, polling to the Central Cooperative Societies and, at a later stage, elections to the apex cooperative societies would be conducted by the OSCEC.
last year, the State Government brought amendments to the OCS Act-1962 as per the 97th amendment of the Constitution of India to accommodate proper representations in the cooperative institutions.