Cong. factions to fight it out in election to coop. bank in Kozhikode

The election to pick office-bearers for the Chevayur Service Cooperative Bank is scheduled for November 16

An election to pick office-bearers for the Chevayur Service Cooperative Bank in Kozhikode city on November 16 is turning out to be a game of one-upmanship between two factions in the Congress party in the district.

This bank, with assets worth thousands of crores, is among the very few such institutions under the party’s control in Kozhikode and its directors include former members of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), such as K.V. Subrahmanian. The District Congress Committee has alleged a plot by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] to snatch it from their hands. Any chance of a truce between the factions was scuttled when KPCC president K. Sudhakaran last month threatened the rebels, who have formed a ‘Bank Protection Committee’, with dare consequences if the party’s nominees fail to win the election. Eleven candidates each from both the factions are in the fray.

According to sources, the factional tussle over the bank had begun in 2019 itself. Congress nominees contested the election held in that year as two factions. G.C. Prasanth, the current chairman of the director board, was then with the official faction. Nine from the official faction and two others from the rebel faction won the election then. As a consequence of the infighting, the Congress lost the Vellimadukunnu ward in the Kozhikode Corporation, which had been its stronghold, in the 2020 local body polls. However, Mr. Prasanth switched sides later and is part of the rebel faction now. Thereafter, the DCC leadership took disciplinary action against him and others. The DCC has been maintaining that attempts are being made to illegally include CPI(M) members as voters to gain an upper hand in the election.

During a press meet on Thursday, DCC president K. Praveenkumar alleged that efforts were being made to disrupt the election process as the officials had prevented the distribution of thousands of identity cards to the voters recently. This was the handiwork of Mr. Prasanth and a section of CPI(M) leaders, he alleged, pointing out that 1,861 voters were illegally included in the list. Mr. Praveenkumar demanded that a recent Kerala High Court order to ensure police security for the election and video recording of the whole process be implemented without fail. The illegally included votes should be kept in a separate box, he said. Mr. Praveenkumar also claimed that the officials were not willing to provide enough facilities at the voting centre despite their persistent demands.

According to its website, the bank has been functioning since 1963. From 1987, the head office began operations from its own building at Thondayad. It has branches at Paroppady, Puthiyapalam, Kovoor, Kottooli, Mylampadi, Cyber Park, and East Vellimadukunnu.

Published - November 14, 2024 07:35 pm IST