Elections For 29,429 Cooperative Societies In Maharashtra To Be Held In Early 2025

Pune, 29th November 2024: The elections for 29,429 cooperative societies in Maharashtra, which were delayed due to the Assembly Elections, are now set to take place in the new year. The Co-operative Election Authority (CEA) is expected to announce the election schedule in the first week of January 2025. In preparation, the authority has directed the concerned societies to finalize their voter lists. For societies that have submitted their voter lists, the election program will be announced by 31st December 2024.

Initially, the CEA had started planning these elections on 1st October, following the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections. However, the Assembly Elections caused further delays as officers and employees of the cooperative department were engaged in election duties. With those elections now complete, the CEA is moving forward with the long-awaited cooperative society elections.

The elections will cover a total of 29,443 cooperative societies across the state, categorized as follows: 42 in Class A, 1,716 in Class B, 12,250 in Class C, and 15,435 in Class D.

The process for 7,109 societies had already commenced before the postponement. These included housing societies with 250 or fewer members and those for which the Supreme Court or High Court had issued directives to hold elections. For these societies, elections were completed up to the appointment of the chairman and vice-chairman. The CEA will now collect updates from these societies on whether these appointments have been finalized.

“Elections for the remaining societies will begin early in the new year, once voter lists are fully updated. District-level officials have been instructed to expedite this process,” CEA Commissioner Anil Kawde confirmed that the elections would proceed promptly after receiving orders from the state government.