Farmer panel ends BJP’s 20-year control of Gujarat’s largest co-op sugar factory
Elections to the management committee of the Bardoli sugar factory were held on August 16. The Kisan Parivartan Panel won 14 of the 15 seats; the BJP-backed Sahakar Panel just one.
The Bardoli sugar factory in Surat district was founded in 1955 and is Gujarat’s first co-operative sugar factory. It has an annual turnover of Rs 600 crore. (Representational image)
The BJP in Gujarat suffered a setback in the sugar co‑operative sector as a farmers’ panel swept the elections to the Shree Khedut Sahakari Khand Udyog Mandli Ltd—popularly known as the Bardoli sugar factory—ending the ruling party’s 20‑year dominance over the factory management. The panel defeated senior leaders, including BJP’s Bardoli MLA Ishvar Parmar.
With an annual turnover of Rs 600 crore, the factory in Surat district was founded in 1955 and is Gujarat’s first co-operative sugar factory. It is also reportedly one of the largest co-operative sugar factories in Asia.
The elections to the management committee were held on August 16, and the results were declared on Tuesday. Elections were held for 14 of 15 seats and were contested by the BJP-backed Sahakar Panel and the Kisan Parivartan Panel formed by sugarcane farmers. The Sahakar Panel won only one seat while the remaining 14 went to the farmers’ panel. The lone seat of the Sahakar Panel was won uncontested by Anil Patel.
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“The major reason behind our panel’s victory is that voters did not want politics to enter the cooperative sector. The Bardoli sugar mills, which have great importance in the political arena in Surat district, have become a centre for BJP party activities in Surat district. The people have voted for us, and now we will work hard to fulfil farmers’ demands,” Mukesh Patel, a winner from the Kisan Parivartan panel, said.
The Bardoli sugar factory’s 19-member board includes four de facto appointees: one from the Directorate of Sugar as the government representative, one from the Surat District Bank, one from the Kisan Sangh, and the managing director. The remaining seats go to polls every five years. The outgoing body had just two members from the Kisan Parivartan Panel.
Big upsets: Bardoli MLA, sugar factory vice-chairman
Bardoli MLA Ishvar Parmar, a Sahakar Panel candidate who contested from the SC/ST seat, was defeated by Kisan Parivartan Panel candidate Tarunkumar Vaghela. Vaghela, who had earlier lost the Bardoli seat to Parmar in the 2022 Assembly polls on a Congress ticket, secured 1,424 votes against Parmar’s 882 in the August 16 election.
“We fought bravely, taking up the issues of the sugarcane suppliers, as they were not getting the minimum support price and other issues faced by the farmers, including delays in payment to the farmers for their crushed crops,” Vaghela told The Indian Express. “My opponent was senior BJP leader Ishwar Parmar, but we touched farmers’ sentiments and assured them that we would do better than the outgoing panel. The public kept faith in us, and we won.”
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Similarly, former Surat district panchayat president and vice-chairman of the Bardoli sugar factory, Bhavesh Patel—a Sahakar Panel candidate from the Mota seat—lost to Kisan Parivartan Panel candidate Satish Patel.
Another notable win was that of former Surat district panchayat president Bhavini Patel’s husband, Atul, who contested from the farmers’ panel and defeated BJP-backed Sahakar Panel candidate Parimal Patel, the Surat district president of Khedut Samaj Gujarat, an independent farmers’ body.
Two women candidates of the Kisan Parivartan Panel also won the election.
While the Kisan Parivartan Panel was led by Mukesh Patel, who won from the Tundi seat, the Sahakar Panel was led by Bhavesh Patel.
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Surat district BJP president Bharat Rathod put on a brave face, saying, “Those who contested the election from Sahakar Panel and Kisan Parivartan Panel are both BJP functionaries, except Tarun Vaghela and Parimal Patel.”
Bhavesh and Parmar could not be reached for comment.
Kamal Saiyed is a senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, providing extensive, on-the-ground coverage from Surat and the broader South Gujarat region and the Union territories of Daman, Diu & Dadra Nagar Haveli. With a reporting career at the publication spanning back to 2007, he has established himself as a high-authority voice on the industrial, social, and political pulse of one of India’s fastest-growing urban hubs.
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