Parthi Bhatol, chief of the Banaskantha Milk Producers' Union, was elected uncontested the chairman of the Rs 6,700-crore Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) on Friday for the next three years.

This is for the second time that Bhatol has been elected uncontested. In the last elections, too, he was the unanimous choice of the board of directors of the Federation.

After his election, Bhatol told Newsline: “I am happy to serve the Federation again. Together, the union and the Federation will work harder for the development of the dairy sector.”

Anand Deputy Collector RG Chaudhry, who was overlooking the election process, said, “Bhatol’s name was proposed by Mehsana dairy chairman Vipul Chaudhry, which was accepted by others.”

Bhatol and Chaudhary were the main contenders for the top post.

But, Chaudhary himself proposed the name of Bhatol, which was seconded by Anand district union chairman Ramsinh Parmar.

State Home Minister Amit Shah, Agriculture Minister Dilip Sanghani and former agriculture minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama attended the meeting among others.

Bhatol had taken the reigns of the Federation after Verghese Kurien, known as the Father of White Revolution in the country who led the federation for 33 years, was forced to quit.

The heads of the 13 union cooperative dairies elect the Federation chairman based on the number of points they have. The points are given to each union as per the production of milk. The election was due for over six months, after Bhatol’s term ended on October 17 last year.