NEW DELHI: The Cooperative Election Authority Monday held its first consultative meeting with state cooperative election bodies, where the issue of whether EVMs can be used in cooperative polls was discussed, among others.The discussions, held to develop a mechanism to hold free and fair elections in cooperative societies, also took up matters relating to framing of a code of conduct for contesting candidates and Multi-State Cooperative Societies and fixing of an upper limit of expenditure for contesting candidates.The Cooperative Election Authority, notified in Mar last year as part of multiple reforms in the cooperative sector, has so far conducted 159 elections and is in the process of conducting 69 more cooperative elections. The meeting, helmed by CEA chairperson Devendra Kumar Singh, saw participation of the state poll commissioners from Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra.
