BJP-backed panel wins Mehsana Dairy election

VADODARA: BJP-backed ‘Parivartan’ panel led by Ashok Chaudhary won the poll battle for formation of the new board of the Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited popularly known as Dudhsagar Dairy held on Tuesday.
Of the 15 seats in the milk union’s board for which the polls were held, Ashok Chaudhary’s panel emerged victorious by bagging 13 seats.
The poll battle was between ‘Vikas’ panel backed by dairy’s former chairman Vipul Chaudhary, who is also the former chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) and Ashok Chaudhary, whose panel in 2015 had won three out of 16 seats.The polls were held at a time when Vipul is in judicial custody for his alleged involvement in a bonus scam. Vipul, a former minister, was arrested by Gujarat CID last month for allegedly siphoning off Rs 14.8 crore that were meant to be distributed as bonus among dairy’s employees.
On Tuesday, polls were held for 15 out of 16 seats of elected representatives as there is a stay on polls for one seat of the board.
The poll battle in which 1,129 representatives of village level milk societies were eligible to exercising their voting right, witnessed 99 % turnout during the day.