Congress relocates 11 candidates to secure zones ahead of the high-stakes Sumul Dairy board election as a key proposer vanishes.
Political tensions have erupted in Gujarat as the high-stakes board of directors elections for the Surat-Tapi District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd—popularly recognized across the industry as Sumul Dairy—rapidly approach. In a dramatic move, the Congress-backed Pashu Palak Heet Rakshak Samithi (PPHRS) has relocated 11 of its candidates to a secure, undisclosed location outside the state. Opposition leadership justified the emergency evacuation as a necessary step to shield candidates from the alleged “pressure tactics” of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose nominees are running under the Sahkar Panel banner ahead of the critical July 4 form withdrawal deadline.
This dramatic relocation highlights the massive commercial and strategic stakes tied to the leadership of Sumul Dairy, one of the region’s heavyweight cooperative processing bodies. According to the cooperative’s official financial disclosures, the dairy generated a massive total trade turnover of Rs 6,276 crore during the 2024-25 fiscal year. The organization’s expansive regional network features 1,039 primary milk producer cooperative societies representing approximately 2.50 lakh individual smallholders, whose local society presidents hold the critical voting power to shape the future corporate board.
The upcoming elections, officially scheduled for July 15, will determine the composition of Sumul’s 19-member board of directors, which consists of 16 elected seats alongside three ex-officio representatives hailing from the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), and the local district registrar’s office. While the election was originally slated to take place in 2025, regional delays caused by local body polls and intensive voter revision drives led to the temporary appointment of a state custodian. Following the initial phase of nomination form withdrawals, 40 active candidates remain locked in competition for the remaining 11 contested seats.
The political struggle has intensified as the BJP-backed Sahkar Panel has already successfully secured five seats uncontested, establishing early administrative leverage in key constituencies including Choryasi, Mangrol, Kamrej, Palsana, and Bardoli. Outgoing vice-chairman Rajesh Pathak, who retained his seat uncontested from Mangrol, expressed absolute confidence that the BJP will maintain its ten-year administrative hold on the dairy union, claiming that local supply chains and milk-producing farmers face no underlying issues. Conversely, opposition organizers have raised serious alarms over the mysterious two-day disappearance of Ravindra Vasava, a critical proposer for a Congress-backed candidate in Umarpada.
Opposition figures have aggressively criticized the ruling party’s implementation of a strict “mandate system” within the agricultural cooperative framework, arguing that pre-binding directors to a political party limits administrative independence and invites systemic financial corruption. To challenge this dynamic, the Congress-backed faction has absorbed several disgruntled BJP workers who were denied official mandates, setting up tight bilateral contests across critical dairy zones such as Valod, Olpad, and Mahuva. For international dairy analysts and dairy economics observers, this intensifying battle underscores how deeply partisan political control can intertwine with the corporate governance, cash flows, and institutional leadership of major multi-million dollar milk marketing federations.
Source: The Indian Express
You can now read the most important #news on #eDairyNews #Whatsapp channels!!!
eDairy News ÍNDIA: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaPidCcGpLHImBQk6x1F
