Maharashtra defers cooperative society elections in drought-hit areas

The Maharashtra government has postponed elections to most cooperative societies in drought-affected districts. It said relief work must take priority and that administrative staff should not be pulled away from the work needed to tackle the drought.

The decision was set out in a Government Resolution (GR) of the Cooperation Department issued late on Tuesday. The order took effect immediately. Under it, elections to eligible cooperative societies have been stopped at whatever stage they have reached and will remain on hold until further orders. Some societies have been exempted.

The government said the step was taken because drought conditions in the 2026 kharif season are widespread and farmers and rural areas have to be given relief.

According to the GR, an initial assessment and the Agriculture Commissioner's report under the Drought Management Code 2016 showed a Trigger-1 situation in 265 talukas. A later assessment, combining Trigger-1 and Trigger-2 indicators, raised the number of drought-affected talukas to 304 across Maharashtra.

Several departments, including revenue, agriculture, animal husbandry, cooperation, rural development and water supply, are engaged in relief and rescue work in the affected areas. The government said that if election activity continued, officers and administrative staff would be diverted from these duties. It also said farmers and members of cooperative societies facing the drought could have considerable difficulty taking part in the election process.

The order exempts some societies. These include cooperative housing societies, societies whose elections the High Court or the Supreme Court has specifically directed, and societies where the nomination stage had already begun before the GR was issued. The government has not announced a single new date for the affected societies. The elections that have been stayed will remain on hold until further instructions.

The decision also affects elections to District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCB), which play an important role in rural credit and farm finance. At the bank in Ahilyanagar, 11 of 21 seats had already been filled unopposed and elections to the remaining 10 were pending. At Satara, 9 of 21 seats had been filled unopposed and 12 were to be contested. The government said elections to the remaining seats in both banks have been put off for six months. The status of the seats filled unopposed is separate from the postponed elections.

The government had earlier announced relief measures for the 304 drought-affected talukas through GRs dated September 25 and October 14. These include restructuring of crop loans, a halt on recovery of farm loans, waiver of current electricity bills for farm pumps, drinking water by tanker, availability of fodder for livestock, and more work under the employment guarantee scheme.

In addition, the state Cabinet on Tuesday approved an advance of Rs 5,000 per farmer, before Diwali, to about 1.5 crore eligible farmers in drought-hit talukas. The government has set aside Rs 7,500 crore for the aid, which will be sent directly to beneficiaries' bank accounts. Farmers whose crops have suffered more than 33 per cent damage will be eligible.