Democratic Management and the Principle of One Member, One Vote

The single feature that most sharply distinguishes the organisation of a co-operative society from that of a company is democratic management. A co-operative society is run on the principle that it belongs to its members equally, and that every member, being an equal owner, has an equal say in how it is run. This principle of self-help through mutual and equal co-operation is what the whole two-tier structure of general body and managing committee is designed to serve.

The cornerstone of democratic management is the rule of "one member, one vote." Under Section 27 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, every member of a society has one vote, and only one vote, in the affairs of the society, irrespective of the number of shares he holds. This is fundamentally different from a joint-stock company, where voting power follows shareholding, so that a person holding more shares commands more votes and can dominate the company. In a co-operative society a wealthy member holding many shares and a member of modest means holding the minimum shares stand exactly equal at the ballot — each has one vote. This ensures that control rests on membership, not on money, and that the society cannot be captured by a few large shareholders. (Where the members of a society are themselves societies, that is, in a federal society, the Act makes special provision for their voting rights, but the equal-voice principle continues to govern the co-operative structure.) …