Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Mar 7: The government faced a setback, as the state High Court stayed operation of a state government order that had postponed elections for the cooperative societies, by an order dated Friday March 6.

On March 4, the government had, by modifying certain sections of the Cooperative Societies Act of 1959, had postponed the elections scheduled to be held for the cooperative societies in the state. Various cooperative institutions had questioned this order in the High Court, through separate petitions.

Justice D V Shylendra Kumar, who heard the petitions, opined that there is no bar on holding cooperative elections as per the time schedule already announced, except on polling dates for the Loksabha election. Accordingly, he granted stay to the government order issued in this regard.

As per the time table drafted earlier, the cooperative institutions are bound to hold elections between March 22 and April 30. Loksabha election is being held in the state in two phases, that is, April 23 and 30. The stage is now set for the 6,791 cooperative societies in the state to go in for election.