Sumul Dairy polls: BJP-backed candidates win 7 of 9 board seats unopposed
Elections for nine seats of the Sumul Dairy board were held peacefully on Wednesday, with candidates backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning seven of them uncontested. The remaining two seats saw ballot voting across nine talukas in Surat and Tapi districts, with 21 candidates in the fray. Results will be announced on July 17.
Sumul Dairy, which has an annual turnover of Rs 6,500 crore, comprises 19 directors, of whom three are nominated members. The dairy serves more than 2.5 lakh farmers in Surat and Tapi. The board has 16 elected seats, and the current elections were held for nine of them. The 16 seats are represented by 1,003 registered voters, who are presidents of milk committees from 16 talukas in the two districts.
In the previous elections, the Congress had won three seats from Nizar, Uchhal and Vyara. This time, the BJP-backed candidates secured seven seats without a contest, indicating strong organisational backing. The voting for the remaining two seats proceeded without any reported incidents.
The election process is crucial for the governance of one of Gujarat's largest dairy cooperatives. The board's decisions impact the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of dairy farmers in the region.
