PANAJI
Voting to elect a new Board of Directors for the State's apex cooperative bank -- Goa State Co-operative Bank Ltd -- was held at the Bank's headquarters in the capital on Sunday.
Already four directors from the 15-member board have been elected unopposed and Sunday's voting has sealed the fate of the contestants vying for the balance 11 seats on the BoD. Counting is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was among those who cast his vote in the elections which has historically been a fiercely contested affair.
The bank for the last several years has been headed and controlled by political figures aligned to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Ulhas Phaldesai, who has a long association with the cooperative movement and is the older brother of Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phaldesai, was the last elected chairman of the Bank.
Phaldesai and his team had quit in the wake of a High Court proceeding which challenged their continuance beyond the expiry of their term.
Following a ruling of the Court, the State government in May this year appointed a 3-member board of administrators to manage the bank until elections are held and the new BoD takes over. Noted Chartered Accountant Santosh Kenkre heads the BoA and its other two members are Laxmikant Naik and bureaucrat Vishant Gaunekar.
Phaldesai meanwhile has not contested this time citing age and personal business commitments but other members of his team which ruled the bank for over five years are in the fray.
