the goan I network
MAPUSA
Amidst allegations and counter allegations, the annual general body meeting of the Gomantak Bhandari Samaj on Sunday decided to elect its new executive committee on November 25.
A seven-member election committee headed by Premanand Chavdekar was also put in place to conduct the election process which will be held at the Menezes Braganza Hall, Panaji.
“We have announced the election for new committee which will be held on November 25 from 10 am to 5 pm. The election roll will be made available in the Panaji office and also in 12 talukas,” said Upendra Gaonkar, General Secretary to the media after the AGM at the Bhandari Praghati Hall in Mapusa.
He said those members who have enrolled recently won’t have voting rights but old members whose names do not reflect on the election roll can produce a receipt and add their names on the roll.
Earlier, the AGM began on a stormy note with several members raising queries over the annual statement of account of the association.
Pointing to the flaws in the statement of accounts, members slammed the committee for failing to study the matter properly.
“The accounts should be clean. And whenever a query is raised, the committee members should be in a position to provide an answer. Failure to provide reliable answers only raises doubts in the minds of the members,” said Shashikant Kandolkar.
Refusing to accept the election date set by the management committee, several members called for setting up of an ad-hoc committee to decide and hold the election process.
“You have declared the date for the election of the new committee. Can you tell me how many members have been registered and who will be entitled to vote?” asked Devidas Asnodkar even as another member, Narayan Mandrekar complained that his name was not included in the voter’s list.
Countering the opposition voices, President of Gomantak Bhandari Samaj, Anil Hoble said that election was already declared and nothing could be done now.
“The election process has been put into motion. You cannot do anything about it now,” a visibly annoyed Hoble said to protesting members.
Unable to calm the agitating members, the entire management committee decided to end the AGM after declaring the election date.
The AGM finally ended without taking up requests listed on ‘any other business’.
The seven-member election committee has Premanand Chavdekar as its chairman and Narayan Narvekar, Ashok Shirodkar, Yeshwant Madkar, Shatrughan Pednekar, Sandip Vernekar and Ashwin Kumar Naik as members.
