Q.Under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, in the affairs of a co-operative society every member has:

This tests the cornerstone rule of co-operative democracy — how voting power is measured in a co-operative society as against a company.

Options (a) and (c) describe a company, where votes follow shareholding — the very thing a co-operative society rejects.

This objective question tests the basic rule of co-operative democracy laid down in Section 27 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960. The correct answer is option (b), one vote irrespective of the number of shares held.

Section 27 provides that every member of a co-operative society has one vote, and only one, in the affairs of the society, whatever the number of shares he holds. This is why option (b) is correct, and it is the very feature that makes control of a co-operative rest on membership rather than on capital, so that a member of small means and a member holding many shares have an equal say.

The other options are wrong because they describe how a joint-stock company works, not a co-operative society. Option (a), one vote for each share, and option (c), votes in proportion to capital, both make voting power follow shareholding — exactly the system a co-operative society rejects, because it would allow a few large shareholders to dominate. Option (d), no right to vote, is plainly incorrect, since the right to vote is a basic right of every member and the means by which he exercises control over the society. The safe way to remember the rule is the phrase itself: in a co-operative society it is 'one member, one vote', never 'one share, one vote'.