The election will decide the fate of 25 seats on Gokul Dairy’s board of directors

Nomination papers will be accepted from Sept 15 to 22

Kolhapur : The Kolhapur Zilla Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Sangh, popularly known as Gokul Dairy, will go to the polls on Oct 18, while counting of votes will be held on Oct 19, according to returning officer Mousami Chougule, appointed by state cooperative election authority. The election will decide the fate of 25 seats on Gokul Dairy’s board of directors. Nomination papers will be accepted from Sept 15 to 22. Following scrutiny and the withdrawal process, the final list of candidates will be published on Oct 9. The last election, held in 2021, saw a panel led by Congress leader Satej Patil , NCP minister Hasan Mushrif, late P N Patil, Prakash Abitkar and Vinay Kore emerge victorious. For the upcoming polls, cooperative department has finalised a voters’ list of 5,332 eligible primary milk societies.

The board’s five-year term ended in May this year, after which the dairy has been under the administration of an appointed board. Each society will nominate one representative to cast its vote.

In 2021, rival factions had united against the Mahadevrao Mahadik-led panel over the proposed “multi-state” expansion plan, which became the defining issue of the election. Political equations are expected to dominate the contest. Senior Mahayuti members are pushing for a united panel comprising alliance partners. However, differences within the ruling coalition have complicated those efforts. Sensing an opportunity, Satej Patil has intensified outreach across party lines in a bid to forge a broad-based panel that projects itself as a farmers’ platform rather than a politically aligned front. This time, no such dominant narrative has emerged. With the ideological battle missing, the outcome is likely to hinge on alliance-building, candidate selection and the ability of factions to stitch together a winning cooperative coalition.