The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) affiliated with the Communist Party of India (CPI) secured victory in the trade union polls of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) held in Telangana on Wednesday, December 27. Thirteen trade unions which are part of Singareni Company participated in the elections.
The polling took place between 7am and 5 pm. A total of 39,773 votes were polled resulting in an impressive 94.20 percent voter turnout. Following the conclusion of polling, ballot boxes were transported to counting centers, where division-wise counting commenced at 7pm on December 27.
In the election held for 11 seats, spread across six districts, AITUC won five seats with 1999 votes majority over the Congress-backed INTUC which secured six seats. The union polling the maximum votes across all divisions is declared as the winner. This marks the return of AITUC as the winner in recognised union elections in SCCL after 2001.
Elections were not held in the past two years and there was uncertainty over polls this year as well. Initially, the elections were scheduled for October 28, just a month before Telangana Assembly elections, which took place on November 30. Hence the SCCL management sought a delay and filed a plea in High Court to postpone the elections until the completion of Assembly elections. The High Court directed the management to hold elections on December 27.
Subsequently another request was filed by the SCCL management to delay the elections due to the recent change in government and the need for the new administration to settle. However, the High Court dismissed the request.
Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangha (TBGKS), affiliated to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), received instructions from BRS supremo and former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao not to contest the trade union elections as per reports. TBGKS contested polls as nominations were filed but did not campaign.