Surat Textile Traders Prepare for Fosta Elections

Surat, India - After 12 years, the Federation of Surat Textile Traders (FOSTA) has formed an Election Committee to hold elections for its board of directors. The committee, comprising Brijmohan Agarwal, Ashok Jain, Mahendra Pal Khurana, Shambhu Kumar Poddar, and Gurmukh Kungwani, has been tasked with establishing rules and overseeing the electoral process. The elections are slated to be completed by May 15.

In preparation for the FOSTA elections, five zones have been created: Ring Road Zone, Salasar Zone Marg, Begum Badi Zone, Kamela Zone, and Saroli Zone. Market presidents and secretaries from these zones will serve as voters in the FOSTA elections. Though these individuals do not trade in textiles, they are granted voting rights; however, they cannot run for FOSTA post.

According to Gurmukh Kungwani, a member of the FOSTA Election Committee, only cloth merchants are eligible to contest the election, and each market will be represented by one candidate. Furthermore, if a president-secretary holds posts in two markets, they may only vote in one.

To accommodate the growing number of markets, FOSTA has expanded its board of directors from 31 to 41 members, representing five zones. Elections will be held for directors from 194 markets across the zones: Salasar (39 markets), Begumawadi (38 markets), Ring Road (47 markets), Kamla Darwaza (40 markets), and Saroli (30 markets).